ABSTRACT
Psychoanalytic Field Theory refers to a family of related bi-personal theories and clinical techniques. Field theory developed beginning in the 1960s in South America and North America and by the 1980s in Europe, primarily in Italy. In this chapter I will describe some of the context for the developments of the three principal forms of field theory and their distinct models and clinical techniques. I will also briefly explore some of the similarities and differences of the models. Each of the three models has introduced novel insights, concepts, and technical tools to the range of psychoanalytic field theories and to psychoanalysis in general. Some of what has been offered by the work on psychoanalytic field theory has been new ways of looking at some fundamental principles and techniques of psychoanalysis. This work has afforded a deeper understanding of the essentials of psychoanalytic thought and concepts. The enhanced clarity of the underpinnings of each of the three principal models affords psychoanalysts from a wide range of perspectives the ability to explore what field concept is implicitly operative in their work. Psychoanalysis may be evolving into a discipline that consists of a family of interrelated psychoanalytic field theories.
