Chapter 12. Contemporary Field Theory

Abstract

Over recent years, there has been debate about the origins of what in general terms is referred to as contemporary field theory . For those analysts developing the ideas first formulated by Willy and Madeleine Baranger in the psychoanalytic field, the origins of field theory can be traced back to the Barangers’ and their colleagues’ work in South America in the early 1960s. The post-Bionian field theory of today is a direct heir to this work on the bipersonal nature of the psychoanalytic process. However, various theories of the field circulate in psychoanalysis today, as in the works of Thomas Ogden (2004) and André Green (2005), who have theories of the analytic third that cover similar ground (Rabeyron 2020). Additionally, many analysts recognize that a theory of the psychoanalytic field is essential to the work of relational psychoanalysis. These analysts trace the origin of field theory not to South America but to North America and the foundational work of Harry Stack Sullivan (Stern 2013).

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