ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comprehensive view of the relational model. Although the model is to some degree in possession of certain inviolable concepts. In the spirit of the theory that has no single prominent theorist, the chapter is organized by concepts, rather than theorists. The movement began with the notion of the “relational matrix” to describe the analytic dyad. The concept of the “two-person” model is its most foundational tenet, and that simply means the analyst plays a role in whatever the patient says or does. It follows that enactment as a “two-person” defense is also a fundamental concept. Dissociation is the other primary defense deployed by relational theorists. Relational theorists tend to diminish the role of repression in favor of dissociation and enactment. In the analytic process, the relational analyst looks for the “third,” what is created between patient and analyst is not a property of either, but a wholly separate entity, created by the interaction between patient and analyst. The chapter goes on to discuss and elucidate the unique way rationalists define and use what appear to be simple concepts, like the self, in complex ways.
