Courting the “Real” and Stumbling in “Reality”: Confusions and Hazards of Relational Practice

The article examines some of the difficulties and vulnerabilities inherent in conducting a relational psychoanalysis. It suggests that co-created relational space has its own particular contexts and boundaries, violations of which may render the analyst as vulnerable and confused as the patient. Hence, when life contexts outside the analysis intrude on the dyad in surprising, distracting, and hurtful ways, it sometimes seems impossible for an analyst simultaneously to engage in the dyad in affectively open and authentic ways while also maintaining professional clarity and containing and protecting the analysis.