Psychoanalytic models of the mind and their contributions to personality research

Psychoanalytic theory is fundamentally a cognitive theory-a series of attem pts to understand the functioning of the human mind. The purpose of this pa per is to review the various psychoanalytic models of the mind and to demon strate how a contemporary psychoanalytic model of the mind, the representat ional model, derives from earlier psychoanalytic models, how it is congruen t with many aspects of contemporary cognitive and developmental theory, and how it provides a theoretical basis for the systematic investigation of pe rsonality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process. Resear ch using a representational psychoanalytic model is discussed. Open-ended d escriptions of self and significant others (mother, father, and therapist) were evaluated using ratings scales derived from developmental cognitive an d psychoanalytic theories. Aspects of these ratings were related significan tly to independent assessments of the quality of interpersonal attachment a nd to the degree of therapeutic change in long-term, intensive, inpatient t reatment of seriously disturbed, treatment-resistant patients. Copyright (C ) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.