Evolving Personifications: The Contribution of Interpersonal Theory to an Understanding of Development

The author draws upon the application and integration of systems theory with Interpersonal theory by Levenson in making the argument that development and change depend on the breakdown of the rigid, unidimensional experience of a personification, a breakdown that results in the formation of a fresh, multidimensional experience of how the person is represented inside the mind. The author argues that the “interpersonal field” between patient and analyst, and the process of coming to subjectively know more about the analyst as a person—with his or her own motivations, intentions, thoughts, and feelings—opens pathways leading to an understanding of one's personifications.