Reviews
"Stern has the delightful skill of writing with an elegance that enables a reader such as me, who is not steeped in the psychoanalytical tradition, to readily grasp quite elusive and complex ideas and apply them to our own thinking as a therapist...I am left feeling that it has definitely been a worthwhile read." - Steve Page, Therapy Today "Donnel Stern's Relational Freedom is a welcome contribution to the field of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in which he reinvents the concept of emergence as the experiential component of the interpersonal field, and brings the concept to life in his many, in depth, clinical discussions. What I find truly remarkable about this book is that it offers a way of encompassing relational theory, field theory, Bionian concepts, and modern Freudian thinking, while so many others deal with these perspectives as if they are at war with one another." - Thomas Ogden , M. D., Personal and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California "Stern's great ability to make very complex concepts comprehensible is once again in evidence in this marvelous book of rare depth. This is the book every "insider" will want to read and secretly wish they had written....It is replete with delightful clinical vignettes that reveal the author's method of working: free, creative, unconstrained by preconstructed models, and always open to whatever emerges in psychoanalytic session (or as Bion would put it to whatever 'evolves' in the session). Rarely have I felt my heart race whilst reading clinical material and such an urge to read on as though these were the final pages of a thriller. If a book may be described as food for thought, this one is a veritable banquet!" - Antonino Ferro, MD, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society "In this exciting and wide-ranging new book, Donnel Stern takes the reader on an exhilarating tour of the contemporary psychoanalytic landscape. For many years, a leading figure in the theoretical articulation of the Interpersonal dimension of Relational theory, Stern here compares and contrasts his own way of viewing the psychoanalytic process to those of Contemporary Freudians, Object Relationists, Bionian Field Theorists and others. Stern's capacity to articulate complex theory is remarkable, and his discussions are always punctuated with powerful clinical examples that further explicate his perspective. He is the consummate teacher and anyone interested in understanding where psychoanalysis is heading today must read this book...maybe several times over!" - Jody Messler Davies, Ph.D. Editor in Chief Emeritus of Psychoanalytic Dialogues: The International Journal of Relational Perspectives; Faculty and Supervisor New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis., Donnel Stern's Relational Freedom is a welcome contribution to the field of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in which he reinvents the concept of emergence as the experiential component of the interpersonal field, and brings the concept to life in his many, in depth, clinical discussions. What I find truly remarkable about this book is that it offers a way of encompassing relational theory, field theory, Bionian concepts, and modern Freudian thinking, while so many others deal with these perspectives as if they are at war with one another. - Thomas Ogden , M. D., Personal and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California Stern's great ability to make very complex concepts comprehensible is once again in evidence in this marvelous book of rare depth. This is the book every "insider" will want to read and secretly wish they had written. It is replete with delightful clinical vignettes that reveal the Author's method of working: free, creative, unconstrained by preconstructed models, and always open to whatever emerges in psychoanalytic session (or as Bion would put it to whatever 'evolves' in the session). Rarely have I felt my heart race whilst reading clinical material and such an urge to read on as though these were the final pages of a thriller. For me, this is a truly exhilarating read that creates a wider field in which even the reader becomes co-protagonist. The scenes and events described are ones that come to life and are lived out during the session, creating a new reality. I thoroughly enjoyed Stern's delightfully lively and creative in-depth description of the field concept. He succeeds in lending a poetic tone to concepts that create a new paradigm for psychoanalysis. Stern shows in a vivid manner how the analytic field comes alive in each and every session. I would like to underscore Stern's skill at creating a "field" with the many authors who have contributed in various ways to the development of this very concept. What is more, the Author reveals his capacity to extend the dialogue and implicitly also the field with theorists who hold different perspectives: my personal thanks go to Stern for proposing a " family" of thinkers I had not had the chance to place on own my family tree of concepts. Stern writes in such a way as to make the Authors in his cast come alive to the reader: he succeeds in breathing vitality into what we knew only in a rather arid way, transforming it, one might say, into today's language and into live holographic presences. It is within the freedom of the field that new uncensored ideas and concepts can emerge. In short, if a book may be described as food for thought, this one is a veritable banquet! Antonino Ferro, MD, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society Stern's great ability to make very complex concepts comprehensible is once again in evidence in this marvelous book of rare depth. This is the book every "insider" will want to read and secretly wish they had written. It is replete with delightful clinical vignettes that reveal the author's method of working: free, creative, unconstrained by preconstructed models, and always open to whatever emerges in psychoanalytic session (or as Bion would put it to whatever 'evolves' in the session). Rarely have I felt my heart race whilst reading clinical material and such an urge to read on as though these were the final pages of a thriller. If a book may be described as food for thought, this one is a veritable banquet! - Antonino Ferro, MD, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, Donnel Stern's Relational Freedom is a welcome contribution to the field of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in which he reinvents the concept of emergence as the experiential component of the interpersonal field, and brings the concept to life in his many, in depth, clinical discussions. What I find truly remarkable about this book is that it offers a way of encompassing relational theory, field theory, Bionian concepts, and modern Freudian thinking, while so many others deal with these perspectives as if they are at war with one another. - Thomas Ogden , M. D., Personal and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, "Stern has the delightful skill of writing with an elegance that enables a reader such as me, who is not steeped in the psychoanalytical tradition, to readily grasp quite elusive and complex ideas and apply them to our own thinking as a therapist...I am left feeling that it has definitely been a worthwhile read." - Steve Page, Therapy Today "Donnel Stern'sRelational Freedom is a welcome contribution to the field of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in which he reinvents the concept of emergence as the experiential component of the interpersonal field, and brings the concept to life in his many, in depth, clinical discussions. What I find truly remarkable about this book is that it offers a way of encompassing relational theory, field theory, Bionian concepts, and modern Freudian thinking, while so many others deal with these perspectives as if they are at war with one another."- Thomas Ogden , M. D., Personal and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California "Stern's great ability to make very complex concepts comprehensible is once again in evidence in this marvelous book of rare depth. This is the book every "insider" will want to read and secretly wish they had written....It is replete with delightful clinical vignettes that reveal the author's method of working: free, creative, unconstrained by preconstructed models, and always open to whatever emerges in psychoanalytic session (or as Bion would put it to whatever 'evolves' in the session). Rarely have I felt my heart race whilst reading clinical material and such an urge to read on as though these were the final pages of a thriller. If a book may be described as food for thought, this one is a veritable banquet!" - Antonino Ferro, MD,President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society "In this exciting and wide-ranging new book, Donnel Stern takes the reader on an exhilarating tour of the contemporary psychoanalytic landscape. For many years, a leading figure in the theoretical articulation of the Interpersonal dimension of Relational theory, Stern here compares and contrasts his own way of viewing the psychoanalytic process to those of Contemporary Freudians, Object Relationists, Bionian Field Theorists and others. Stern's capacity to articulate complex theory is remarkable, and his discussions are always punctuated with powerful clinical examples that further explicate his perspective. He is the consummate teacher and anyone interested in understanding where psychoanalysis is heading today must read this book...maybe several times over!"- Jody Messler Davies, Ph.D. Editor in Chief Emeritus of Psychoanalytic Dialogues: The International Journal of Relational Perspectives; Faculty and Supervisor New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
