CONTEXTS AND CONNECTIONS

Shaddock makes sense of intersubjectivity, the functional paradigm shift in highbrow psychotherapy, as both a way of thinking about our psychological lives and a way of doing clinical work. Applying it to relational systems means investigating the experience of each partner/ member from inside his/her perspective and without judgment. The book illustrates how that approach lowers defenses and lets in insights, mutual understanding, and renewed hope; it demonstrates that treatment built on empathic awareness of contexts and connections can actually also lead to individual transformation.

David Shaddock, author of From Impasse to Intimacy: How Understanding Unconscious Needs Can Transform Relationships, practices psychotherapy in Oakland, California.