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A Phenomenological-Contextualist Perspective in Psychoanalysis: A Conversation with Robert D. Stolorow

(Interviewed by Peter N. Maduro, Private Practice)

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Abstract

Robert D. Stolorow describes his realization that Heidegger’s existential philosophy provides invaluable philosophical tools for grounding a psychoanalytic phenomenological contextualism and for grasping the existential significance of emotional trauma. In particular, he cites Heidegger’s analysis of anxiety and being-toward-death as containing crucial insights into the understanding of trauma. Stolorow’s work at the boundaries of psychology and philosophy led to his ideas on the psychotherapeutic encounter as a form of applied philosophy and phenomenology. In a number of books and articles, he describes the therapeutic encounter as fluidly co-constituted by the experiential worlds of the patient and the therapist, with multiple dimensions of their experience oscillating between the background and foreground for each participant within the intersubjective field.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Santa Monica, California, USA

    Robert D. Stolorow

Authors
  1. Robert D. Stolorow
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Correspondence to Robert D. Stolorow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Heather Macdonald

  2. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

    David Goodman

  3. Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Brian Becker

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© 2017 The Author(s)

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Stolorow, R.D. (2017). A Phenomenological-Contextualist Perspective in Psychoanalysis: A Conversation with Robert D. Stolorow. In: Macdonald, H., Goodman, D., Becker, B. (eds) Dialogues at the Edge of American Psychological Discourse. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59096-1_5

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