Non-interpretive mechanisms in psychoanalytic therapy - The 'something more' than interpretation

It is by now generally accepted that something more than interpretation is necessary to bring about therapeutic change. Using an approach based on rec ent studies of mother-infant interaction and non-linear dynamic systems and their relation to theories of mind, the authors propose that the something more resides in interactional intersubjective process that give rise to wh at they will call 'implicit relational knowing'. This relational procedural domain is intrapsychically distinct from the symbolic domain. In the analy tic relationship it comprises intersubjective moments occurring between pat ient and analyst that can create new organisations in, or reorganise not on ly the relationship between the interactants, but more importantly the pati ent's implicit procedural knowledge, his ways of being with others. The dis tinct qualities and consequences of these moments (now moments, 'moments of meeting') are modelled and discussed in terms of a sequencing process that they call moving along. Conceptions of the shared implicit relationship, t ransference and countertransference are discussed within the parameters of this perspective, which is distinguished from other relational theories and self-psychology. In sum, powerful therapeutic action occurrs within implic it relational knowledge. They propose that much of what is observed to be l asting therapeutic effect results from such changes in this intersubjective relational domain.