"New and Creative Development in Psychoanalysis"
By Steven A. Frankel, M.D.
Article published in Contemporary Psychoanalysis 37: 523-550 (2001)

Synopsis:
As used in psychodynamic psychology, the term developmental refers to operations of the patient's mind that evolve differentially over time to become more complex, consolidate to be more reliable, and result in improved skills for managing life. Developmental ideas are incorporated into psychodynamic theories and chosen for use clinically by the therapist somewhat idiosyncratically. Selection is biased by the tenets of the therapist's and patient's formal and personal theories. Developmental change in psychotherapy seldom occurs free of intrapsychic conflict, and never outside of intersubjectivity. The complexity of this therapeutic developmental process mandates continual negotiation of consensus within analysis, with leadership shifting back and forth between therapist and patient. But, the developmental product is never simply a reiteration of childhood. It is always development with a contemporary stamp, that is, new development. When the personal qualities of both therapist and patient play a major part in shaping the patient's development, the result is creative development.

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