The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst

"The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst draws on the history of psychoanalysis so as to create its bright future. In its pages the contributions of Freud and British Object Relations theory open to the Relational Turn and to a model of 21st century practice that is integrative and innovative. Through multiple, extended vignettes Grossmark illustrates his clinical position of gentle presence with a remarkable openness and clarity, emphasizing the role of action in the talking cure and the importance of engagement in a process that takes patient and analyst, and will also take the reader, to undiscovered areas of psychic life and living. If this sounds different and new to you, you’re right, it is! Transcending parochial divisions, Grossmark creates from varied facets of analytic theory an elegant and eloquent original synthesis that is at once ‘in the tradition’ and its forward edge."-Bruce Reis, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, & the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

"In this wonderfully innovative book, Robert Grossmark shows us how to work with the most difficult patients we encounter, those whose words are empty, whose feelings are dead and who are unable to relate as whole objects or to make a life they can own. Calling on a wide variety of theories from many different schools of thought, Grossmark has woven a conceptual net that captures his unique way of "companioning" these people whom he describes in such loving and dramatic detail. A companion is someone who travels along with you and shares your bread. I can think of no better companion for a deep psychoanalytic voyage than Robert Grossmark. This book should be a must read for anyone who works with these challenging patients."-Sheldon Bach, Ph.D., Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychology, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis; Fellow, International Psychoanalytical Association.

"Grossmark's original formulations about the therapeutic presence required of the analyst who meets primitive unformulated and unspeakable self-states in his patients, reverberate in the consulting room long after reading. His clinical work is moving in its great receptivity, and inspiring freedom from the conventions of psychoanalytic technique of whatever school. For me, it courageously illustrates the radical attitude required of an analyst who truly leans on Bion's act of faith and on Winnicott's 'living an experience together."-Michal Rieck, Training and Supervising Analyst, the Israel Psychoanalytic Society; Co-Founder and Co-Direcor, The Israel Winnicott Center, Tel Aviv.