ABSTRACT
The concept of the relational unconscious is at the heart of the two-person approach to psychotherapy. The relational unconscious is referred to in much of the contemporary relational psychoanalytic literature as the `analytic third'. Gerson (2004) takes the view that the relational unconscious is a fundamental part of any relationship between two people, that it is coconstructed by the interaction in the dyad, and in turn in¯uences the evolving process of both people's subjective experience:
Intersubjectivity and the relational unconscious are better thought of as processes through which people communicate with each other without awareness about their wishes and fears, and in so doing, structure the relation according to both mutually regulated concealments and searches for recognition and expression of their individual subjectivities.
