The «relational Turn» in Psychotherapy: Historical–theoretical Preconditions, Principles, and Ethical Implications

The article analyzes the historical preconditions and evolution of the «relational turn» in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in the late twentieth century. Relevance. During the second half of the twentieth century, psychotherapeutic thought shifted from intrapersonal and medicalized models toward intersubjective and contextual frameworks. This «relational turn» placed at the center the real analyst–patient relationship, mutuality, the co-construction of meaning, and the ethics of interaction. Objective. The aim of the study is to reconstruct the historical preconditions and development of the “relational turn” in psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice, as well as to systematize its key principles. Methodology. Theoretical analysis and synthesis of psychoanalytic literature; a comparative review of traditions (object relations, interpersonal psychoanalysis, self-psychology) and intellectual influences (feminist critique, postmodern/constructivist thought); elements of a historiographic reading of key texts. Results. It is shown that: the shift from «one-person psychology» to «two-person psychology» revised notions of analyst neutrality and the nature of therapeutic change; a metatheoretical «crisis of confidence» in the 1970s-1980s prepared a pluralist framework for relationality; feminist critique introduced the categories of mutual recognition, the ethics of power, and subject-to-subject equality; empirical findings on attachment and dyadic co-regulation provided a scientific grounding for the primacy of relationships; the relational paradigm institutionalized the ideas of mutuality, intersubjectivity, and co-created experience. Conclusions. The «relational turn» is an integrative paradigm that re-orients psychotherapeutic theory and technique toward real relationships, mutuality, and context. It rejects the possibility of full neutrality, frames therapy as a dialogue between two subjects, and calls for ethical sensitivity to power within the dyad. Perspectives. Further research should focus on: empirical study of co-regulatory processes in psychotherapy; operationalizing «mutual recognition» as a therapeutic factor; and cross-cultural comparative analyses of relational technique.