ABSTRACT
Contemporary psychoanalytic praxis draws from three models of clinical inquiry: the impersonal nonparticipant mirror; the interpersonal participant-observer; and the personal coparticipant inquirer. Participant-observation, in contrast to coparticipant inquiry, represents a one-way view of analytic process. The practice of coparticipant inquiry exists on a continuum, ranging from minimal or conservative use of coparticipant principles to extensive and radical uses of such concepts. All psychoanalyses, however symbolized or structured, are coparticipatory integrations. The coparticipants together forge a dyadic encounter unique to them, conjointly shaping the individual course and nature of their relationship. The concept of the psychoanalytic situation as an interpersonal or intersubjective field is central to coparticipant theory. The chapter describes a major feature of coparticipant inquiry: the dynamism of a personal self. If inquiry is permitted to be open-ended, it will develop, organically and creatively, in novel ways unexpected by both patient and analyst.
