At the Interface of Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Body Psychotherapy

Book excerpt: At the Interface of Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Body Psychotherapy revolves around two intertwined themes: that of the critique and expansion of the theory and practice of transactional analysis and that of the generative richness discovered at the intersection of transactional analysis, psychoanalysis, and somatic psychotherapy. William F. Cornell explores the work of psychotherapists and counsellors through the lenses of clinical theory, practice, supervision, and ethics. The reader is thus invited into a more vivid experience of being engaged and touched by this work’s often deep, and at times difficult, intimacy. The book is grounded in the approaches of contemporary transactional analysis and psychoanalysis, using detailed case discussions to convey the flesh of these professional, and yet all too human, working relationships. Attention is paid to the force and richness of the transferential and countertransferential tensions that pervade and enliven the therapeutic process. Unconscious processes are viewed as fundamentally creative and life-seeking, with the vital functions of fantasy, imagination, and play brought into the foreground. In the era of short-term, cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused, and evidence-based models of counselling and psychotherapy, At the Interface of Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Body Psychotherapy seeks to demonstrate the power and creativity of longer-term, dynamically oriented work.