Here, Dr. Barsness takes a deep-dive into the origins and elements of Relationally Focused Psychodynamic Therapy, its core foundations, its connection to interpersonal neurobiology, and the specific practices of relationally focused therapists.

is a method of treatment grounded in depth psychology (particularly contemporary relational psychoanalysis), interpersonal neurobiology, the dialogical philosophy of , and the sacredness of the person and of the therapeutic act.

RFPT is also an evidenced-based psychotherapy modality focused on transformational change through relationship. We hold to an understanding that we are conceived in relationship, formed in relationship, harmed in relationship, and transformed through relationship. The treatment method is designed to deepen a psychotherapist鈥檚 capacity to work directly within the therapeutic relationship as the primary means of change and to develop theoretical and practical skills in the delivery of a relationally-focused treatment.

Origins of Relationally-Focused Psychodynamic Therapy

Relationally Focused Psychodynamic Therapy is as much a meta-theory or method as it is a model, evolving from a wide range of psychoanalytic ideas and theories while offering structure and flexibility in practice.

Relational Psychoanalysis is a movement that began in the 1980s. At that time, a group of psychoanalysts from the NYU post-doctoral program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis ¹ launched what they termed a 鈥渞adical alternative鈥� to the one-person drive theory posited by earlier theoreticians (Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Kernberg, Kohut) to a two-person psychology that emphasized the dyadic, dynamic flow of the therapeutic relationship.

With the understanding that we are shaped interpersonally and that psychopathology is characterized by maladaptive, relational configurations, fundamental to relational psychoanalysis is the power of working 鈥� that is directly within the experience of the therapist/patient relationship. Relational psychoanalyst鈥檚 basic premise is that human beings are born with a primary need of relatedness and that relatedness is necessary for survival. Relatedness is the primary organizer of mental life. RFPT practices are based on relational psychoanalytic theories and on a qualitative research study conducted in 2017 that resulted in seven core disciplines. ² These seven disciplines are representative of common practices among relational analysts in conducting a psychodynamic treatment.

The Connection Between RFPT and Interpersonal Neurobiology

Working from a relationally psychodynamic perspective is also informed by research that explores the effect that relationships (including therapeutic) has on the brain and affect regulation. Researcher Alan Schore states that 鈥渞egulation theory dictates that in 鈥榟eightened鈥� affective moments, the patient鈥檚 unconscious internal working model of attachment, whether secure or insecure, is reactivated in right-lateralized implicitly-procedural memory and re-enacted in the psychotherapeutic relationships.鈥� ³

Disruptions to the continuity, presence, and availability of primary caregivers plays a central role in psychoneuropathogenesis. Thus, interpersonal relations are the building blocks of the mind, determining our attitudes, perceptions, reactions, our feelings, essentially what we might call 鈥渙ur-selves.鈥� Affective states between the right-brains of the patient and the therapist are best described as intersubjectivity. Right brain processes are reciprocally activated within the therapeutic alliance, are most often unconscious and are 鈥渇elt鈥� before they are thought.

Working from this perspective creates relational conflict/dissonance and it is the working through of the inevitable ruptures, interlocks, and enactments that shifts the chemistry of the brain. Alan Schore says, 鈥淓motions are deepened in intensity and sustained in time when they are intersubjectively shared [occurring] in moments of deep contact.鈥� ⁴ Strachey鈥檚 translation of Freud鈥檚 die seele (soul) to mind, removed the essence of Freud鈥檚 intent. The translation sucked the 鈥渟oul鈥� out of psychology, replacing it with an emphasis on the intellect/the mind.

What has been lost is an understanding of the soul as the spirit of life, the energy that animates us toward the other, the fervor in which we approach our lives. Jungian analyst James Hillman 4 describes the soul as that aspect of the human person which makes meaning possible, [deepens] events into experiences, is communicated in love, and has a religious concern. Perhaps Hillmans鈥� reference to religious concerns is a nod to the steadfast discernment of the soul as the central moral force embedded deep within a person. Though religion has done its own violence to the meaning of the soul, ultimately both psychodynamic therapy and religion have a shared teleology. Psychodynamic therapies, laboring in the realm of the soul, (whether it is acknowledged or not), are always bumping up against the sacred. Both seek meaning, depth, and purpose. Both in their own forms of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation, seek to transform the barriers blocking a vital life of love and care for oneself and of the other.

Interpersonal neurobiology can now 鈥渢rack鈥� the power of the human connection and the transformation that occurs when two lives intersect with the other. This intersection is transacted 鈥漺hen people enter dynamic solidarity with one another鈥nd this deep bonding is contained neither in one, nor the other, nor in the sum of both, but becomes present between them鈥hrough directness and wholeness, will and grace, and the presence of mutuality.鈥� ⁵ , a well-known systematic theologian, refers to this meeting as the 鈥渋ntimate indwelling and complete interpenetration of the persons in one another鈥nd that by their eternal love, the divine person exists so intimately with one another, for one another and in one another that they constitute themselves in their unique, incomparable and complete unity.鈥� ⁶

Practices of a Relationally Focused Therapist

In these deep moments of psychological contact, we are on the threshold of the sacred. Relational psychoanalysis, current research conducted in interpersonal neurobiology, the sacred texts of religion and the philosophy of Martin Buber, direct the RFPT mind towards the potency of assisting our patients towards health and well-being. Each advances the notion of therapeutic change through the act of authenticity. By paying attention to affective states, unconscious arousals, and replications within the therapeutic encounter, the patient’s internal world is reexperienced and reimagined.

No two therapists work in the same fashion and, given the uniqueness of each relationship and the working through of what happens in that relationship, it must be so. These are universal practices that can serve as a helpful 鈥渕ap鈥� for conducting our practices while acknowledging and appreciating the intuitive, organic nature of our work, including:

• How we position ourselves (therapeutic intent and therapeutic stance)
• How we reflect (deep listening)
• Attending to the there and then/here and now (patterning/linking)
• How we engage (repetition/working through and courageous speech/disciplined spontaneity)

These primary influencers of relationally-focused psychodynamic work are intended to deepen a psychotherapist鈥檚 capacity to work directly within the therapeutic dyad, understanding the therapeutic relationship as the primary instrument towards change.

Learn more about the Relationally-Focused Psychodynamic Therapy Post-Graduate Certificate here.

References

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I waited.

As I waited, flashing through my mind was the question, 鈥淪hould I use my state-commissioned authority to enter without their permission or should I wait until the door opened and I was invited in?鈥� And if the door opens, I pondered, should I exercise my authority to remove the children with no questions asked and get the hell out, or should I stay, ask questions, and create conversations and together collaborate a plan for the care of these children?鈥�

The door opened and our story began. We would spend the next two years together navigating our differences. As I continued to return, one day I noticed I did not hear the voices of the children yelling 鈥渕oonias, moonias.鈥� Rather, it was the children themselves who opened the door and let me in. Slowly we had moved from Moonias-Indian (First Nations) to the use of our given names.

As we came to know each other by name, we also grew to care for the other as we worked together to create a safer place. It did not go well nor did it end well. But in the process, this family, along with many of the Maskwacis tribe, became my first teachers about race, power, privilege, hatred and the fallacy of 鈥渨hiteness鈥� as a norm. Whiteness, as I would later come to understand as a fabrication benefiting the White race and devoid of any meaning other than maintaining power and privilege, had to be yielded and re-imagined.

Yielding, at the time, came in the act of return. One of the lessons I learned was the importance of simply 鈥渟howing up.鈥� One morning, I received a message from the police that the children of this family were sitting in a cell at the police station waiting for me to take them home. The children had been caught breaking into several stores the night before and the police could not get in touch with their mother. The children had directed the police to call me. As we drove back towards the reservation one of the children spoke up and said, 鈥淩oy, if you would come see us more often, we would be better.鈥� The words struck deep. And they have never left me. That small child, speaking from deep within their heart, was very wise. For we are all made better when someone shows up.

But how we show up, I would learn, is another question. Though we did not have the language of at the time, we both knew, at a conscious and unconscious level, the danger handed down by my people – the assault upon their culture. They had every reason to be wary of me.

And I was wary of myself. I barely 鈥渒new鈥� myself and hidden in me, given my culture and privilege, was a deep bias of our indigenous people. So how would I show up? Did I feel comfortable enough in my own White self to not abuse the power and privilege of my whiteness?

Perhaps because of my youth, my idealism, if I did nothing else, I returned. But my confidence in continuing to return was because the Maskwacis slowly welcomed my return. Their acceptance of me as the White man that I am challenged me to accept them as the persons that they are. I believe it was they who initiated in me the idea that, 鈥渢o be useful in this world, the best I can do is to be me and not try to be you or attempt to make you me.鈥� This was a challenge to my previous understanding where difference was expected to accommodate my whiteness. What I have learned is that it is in the grit of working through difference, misunderstandings, misrecognitions, ruptures and repairs 鈥� where transformation takes place.

I have been a decades long student of the philosopher Martin Buber whose work entitled is essentially a classic. A quick read of Buber often leaves the reader thinking the I/Thou encounter is simply a moment of meeting when two persons come to understand the other and tension is released. But the I/Thou moment is not encountered through sameness, agreement or compromise. Rather, it is predicated on the recognition of difference. Genuine Encounter is the act of living in the ache and the beauty of contrast. It is the move from 鈥渦sing鈥� the other as an object for personal gain and power. It is the act of 鈥渢urning鈥� towards the other as a (w)holy other. It is the hope that two separates can find unity in contrast.

This is not achievable however, if one is unable to confirm oneself. If one is unable to live and be in their own skin 鈥� (in my case, my white skin) – the skin of the stranger will always be someone to fear, to subjugate, to own and objectify. But if I am able to consider my fear of the other as an outward manifestation of unworked issues of my own, at the least this should give me pause towards an understanding of the other as an unfair recipient of my biases. At the most, it should cause me to turn towards the other with humility with wonder and with awe.

Chief Dan George was a highly respected in the Tsleil-Waututh Nation 鈥� a neighboring nation of the Maskwacis. His book , was a companion to me during my time with Maskwacis. He said this:

One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you.
But if you don鈥檛 talk to the animals, they won鈥檛 talk back to you, then you won鈥檛
understand, and when you don鈥檛 understand you will fear, and when you fear you will
destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy yourself.

That day as I stood on the steps, I was asking the question, 鈥渋f that door opens what will
we do with (or to) the other?鈥� What I learned that day is to show-up and to wait to be let in. What I have learned since is the importance of reflecting upon 鈥渨hat is it that I fear? The strange other? Or the stranger that is within?

I am grateful that day that the door opened. For it birthed in me, that my/our fear of the other will destroy us. And that it is through opening the door to our differences, that we are shaped, reshaped and transformed.

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Grounded Theory Analysis allows the researcher to search for a central explanatory concept or core category which is intended to capture the essence of what has been studied. In this study, I could not escape an overwhelming concept that kept pushing to be named. I was reluctant to name it, because it is too human, and I was afraid it would sound too 鈥渟oft鈥� for research. But it refused to not be recognized. And it is this鈥攚hat lies at the heart of a psychoanalytic treatment is love.

It came up in three ways. First, interviewees stated it directly by simply saying, 鈥淚 love my patients.鈥� Second, I found myself 鈥渓oving鈥� my interviewees as I was 鈥渃aught up鈥� in how they expressed themselves with so much joy, care, and compassion for their patients. I found myself 鈥渢ouched鈥� by the intimacy that evolved in their work as they risked themselves emotionally and intellectually, wholeheartedly engaging the analytic process. Third, love came to be defined by the very kind of relationship analysts provide鈥攁 relationship that requires of themselves honesty and risk-taking, a deep immersion in the affective lives of the other, and a devotion to scrutinize non-defensively their own selves in an attempt to understand, feel, and grasp the internal and interpersonal world of another. The analyst is willing to resist the urge for self-protection, surrender certainty, and engage in the inevitable conflicts, misrecognitions, and ruptures, and to stay in the conflict until it is worked through. The analyst鈥檚 relentless 鈥渆thic of honesty鈥濃�攁 Freudian technique that Freud believed an essential requirement in the patient鈥攊s now valued by these relational analysts as a requirement also in themselves. It is this honesty that births an unusual authenticity rarely found in human relations, and the primary factor that engenders change and transformation in our patients鈥� lives.

As I vetted this study, I discovered that some analysts were uncomfortable with the word 鈥渓ove鈥� and some even stated that they didn鈥檛 love all of their patients, giving me pause to reconsider love as a core category. So how did it get included? First, it was in the data. Second, just as this research study was developed from a student pushing for clearer practices, it was also a student who encouraged me to include it. Students were aware of the research I was conducting, and many even participated in the literature review for the study. I told them about this thing called love, and that it was controversial. There was a student who had been in the class for two semesters and who had said little to nothing the entire time. I sensed his engagement, but was often curious about his silence. Now, at the end of the semester, having said our goodbyes, he approached me and quite intensely said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever shy away from love…You have brought it, you have lived it, I have bought it, and I believe it…And now, as a new practitioner, I have seen it. Don鈥檛 ever give up on love.鈥�

It should be made clear that we don鈥檛 鈥渄ecide鈥� to love a patient, and in fact, if love is in the air, we know that negative affective states are not far behind (and perhaps vice versa). However, isn鈥檛 the very tangle of the therapeutic relationship, where we experience the intensity of the full range of emotions, including love and hate, not some form of love?¹

He was handsome, confident, articulate, immediately fluid and charming in our interaction, eyeing me to see if I could be of any use to him. Socially sophisticated and gentle in his approach, I was quickly introduced to the intricacies of his life-drama and felt as though I was being auditioned to see if I would become critic or admirer. I sensed he wanted help, but he did not want to be revealed. He wanted to be seen, but not if it meant I might perceive him in any negative way. I was invited in to assist him in his difficulties in living as long as I did not disrupt the fragile persona that he had developed over his 40-plus years. We approached each other tentatively鈥攕keptics, if you will, wondering if we would find authenticity in the other or if we would part left with yet another false encounter. Yet we both stayed. Over time skepticism was replaced with trust and our lives enriched by the other.

Therapy is a profound relational experience that conjures up a myriad of emotion. I can easily report that I love my patients, and I respect their courage and willingness to enter the difficult work of therapy, but often I am caught off guard in that these are not merely words out of a textbook about empathy or unconditional positive regard, but are deeply held feelings that are alive within me.

鈥淭hese are not merely words out of a textbook about empathy or unconditional positive regard, but are deeply held feelings that are alive within me.鈥�

Such was the case for me with this man when I sensed something well up inside me and discovered that I felt a deep and abiding love for him. This love was not simply 鈥減rofessional,鈥� but was the kind of love that I feel for those I know best: love as a sensation not a concept. I felt excited, desirous, hopeful, emotional, and eager. I felt awe, the feeling of love that says, 鈥渢his is good.鈥�

I found myself disturbed by this love. Yet I also wanted to revel in it.

I was disturbed because I wondered if, in loving, had I lost my objectivity? Had I lost my way with him in such a way that I could no longer assist him in understanding himself? I was left asking, 鈥淐an I love him and be objective? And can I not love him and be objective?鈥�

As I sat with these feelings of love, I must admit I found myself less clinical in this session, less judgmental of his lapses of 鈥渕ental health,鈥� less energetic to go after his 鈥渦nderlying pathology.鈥� I felt a sense of celebration about the life that we had together so far. I was moved by how he was emerging from being a user and a manipulator of persons, to a lover of people. He was becoming a person who was discovering enough of himself that he was less driven to manipulate sex, women, and others to fulfill his needs. He was getting well. His work had been admirable. I was proud of him. There was cause for celebration.

I am acutely aware at moments like these that I may, in fact, be colluding with patients rather than interpreting underlying patterns of behavior. But this was not what I was experiencing at that moment. His earlier, more manipulative and hurtful way of relating had been tempered with genuine love. I felt his expression of love and, because I felt its genuineness, I too was moved to love.

I believe that my work with patients requires me to analyze and integrate the negative aspects of our relatedness. At the same time, I need to experience and celebrate with patients the lovingness that exists in each of us and often cannot find voice. The task before us, then, is how to connect with, surrender to, love, and be loved by our patients.

We all want to be loved, of course, but we often seek love in ways that it cannot be found. Almost always love is replaced with the need to be admired, taken care of, or desired鈥攁lmost anything except to be seen and known honestly for our real selves. And yet we 鈥渒now鈥� that when we are least defended, and when our more real self announces itself, then the Real (God) can be and is revealed. If we believe that God took human form in Christ Jesus, and that through the incarnation we are Christ to one another, then God鈥檚 own love comes concretely into our midst through our interpersonal interactions.

鈥淲e all want to be loved, of course, but we often seek love in ways that it cannot be found.鈥�

In this moment with my patient, I was reminded that shared knowing lies at the heart of fulfilled love; 鈥淔or now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known鈥� (1 Cor. 13:12). On that day, love shone through. We were face-to-face and, although we did, and will, and do experience many other emotions, on that day love let me see not only the darkness but also the Light. And he saw it too. The news that I heard was the news of love, the news of a self that had long been neglected, that had not been able to give voice. I loved the loved, and the Beloved was with us. And we were both changed.²

¹Excerpted from , Edited by Roy E. Barsness for the Relational Perspectives Book Series. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.

²Excerpted from 鈥淗onor, Wonder, Awe and Love: Sacred Moments in Relationship with Clients鈥� by Wayne T. Aoki, Roy Barsness, and Sam B. Leong, in Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2001, Vol. 20, No. 1, 80-84.

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Dr. Barsness founded the Relational Perspectives Series with the vision of creating an intimate, accessible environment to engage with relational and analytic theorists and clinicians who are contributing innovative, compelling work to the fields of psychology and psychotherapy. Here, we talk with him about his heart for the annual series and his particular excitement about bringing Dr. Rogers to 天美视频.

How did the Relational Perspectives Series first come to life?

The vision for the Relational Perspectives Series emerged from an idea that I had to invite theorists and practitioners whom students were reading in my courses, and who were contributing to students鈥� overall clinical development. I established the Series as a Friday evening community lecture in partnership with the and an all-day Saturday teaching seminar for students and alumni. The launch of the first lecture in 2008 was Dr. Karen Maroda, a favorite author among the students, and subsequent guests have included Lew Aron, Steven Knoblauch, Brad Strawn, Earl Bland, and others.

How do the guests you bring in, and the conversations at these events, contribute to the ongoing learning that students are engaging?

I believe having a direct experience with an author of a text, and the ability to personally ask the writer questions about their theory and practice, deepens the learning process. Also, to have the author supervise a case in the Saturday seminar demonstrates in vivo how the theory is fleshed out in actual practice from that particular theorist鈥檚 view. It also provides a personal attachment and identification with the author and, I believe, increases the likelihood of continued study of that author.

You mentioned that the evening lecture each year is presented in partnership with the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study (NWAPS). What makes that such a meaningful collaboration year after year?

Since the inception of the Relational Perspectives Series, a primary goal has been to connect our training efforts with the psychological community at large. Given my long association with NWAPS both as a Board member and a life-long member, NWAPS was the natural portal to our collaboration. It has been successful on two fronts: members in the community have been given access to our robust analytic training program, as well as opportunities to offer post-graduate supervision and psychotherapy, and our students have been connected to a post-graduate community that continues to support them and educate them. The success of the collaboration is also evidenced in how our alumni have assumed significant leadership roles with NWAPS.

When did you first encounter the work of Annie Rogers?

Annie came to my attention in 2004 in my reading of her memoir, A Shining Affliction. It had been used in other 天美视频 classes prior to my reading, and it seemed to fit well in the overall goals of the Therapy I and II curriculum, so I built it into that class.

What makes Dr. Rogers a good fit for this series?

Annie鈥檚 story resonates very strongly with our students in their recognition that in relational work, it is often in our woundedness that we are most sensitive and available to the afflictions of others. In this text, students are encouraged to value, rather than hide, their vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the text offers two different 鈥渧ersions鈥� of an analysis, with one of the therapist鈥檚 demonstrating an excellent example of relational psychotherapy.

鈥淚t is often in our woundedness that we are most sensitive and available to the afflictions of others.鈥�

For many students, A Shining Affliction is a pivotal part of their time at 天美视频. Why do you think Dr. Rogers鈥� stories and perspectives resonate so deeply with what we are learning here?

Annie鈥檚 stories (and I am finding the same in my communications with her) are deeply personal and profound, and they reach deep into our own psyches and our own woundedness. Furthermore, she is highly ethical and demonstrates the power of change through genuine interpersonal encounters.

What are your hopes for people who come to hear Annie Rogers and join this conversation?

I hope that we will all be moved by her story to consider our own, that we will be reminded how deeply complicated the therapeutic process is, and that we will reflect upon what a sacred thing it is to be given the task of birthing new life in the other, through the complexity of deep relating with another human being.

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天美视频鈥檚 Founding President Dr. Dan Allender in his book, , states,

鈥渕y character is a superb fit for a startup, edgy, academic world, but I would be a trapezoid peg in a round hole if I were to try and teach or administrate in a traditional academic world.鈥�

Twenty-one years ago, our first President gathered a group of like-minded people and moved to the edge of the Salish Sea, to one of the most edgy, educated, innovative cities in our country.

They dreamed big, took personal and professional risks, and acted like fools for the sake of the Gospel. They wanted to challenge the numbness of our own Christian traditions, in search for a new narrative that defies the oppressions and injustices within our societies, and to work with the traumas within our own stories that hinder us from full engagement in our God-given lives.

Dr. Allender once asked our dear friend and New Testament professor Stanley Grenz, who left us and this earth far too early, 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 others take these risks?鈥� Dr. Grenz replied, 鈥淏ecause other seminaries don鈥檛 hire fools to be the President!鈥�

What a difference fools can make!

Our second President, Dr. Keith Anderson, understood this foolishness and placed his mark on this institution with his insistence on maintaining the edge by charting an alternative consciousness, representative of the Christian message.

In the wake of the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville last year鈥攁 rally he referred to as a 鈥渂latant and vile display of racism and anti-Semitism鈥濃�擠r. Anderson reminded us who we were by recounting,

foundational to our education at 天美视频 is that we seek to sustain curiosity in the midst of differences, discourse in contested conversations, listening when we want to walk away, offering a table in the very presence of those with whom we strongly disagree, and embodying a spirituality of our own repentance even as we call it forth from others.

The DNA in this institution, Dr. Detweiler, is filled with fools, edgy faculty, staff, and students who are stirred up by hurts, pains, oppressions, traumas, and injustices. People who yearn to be participants in the energizing story of the Incarnate Christ. We are psychologists and ministers standing in solidarity with those in the margins and immersing ourselves in the traumas of those who seek our counsel, recognizing that transformation takes place in our points of surrender and vulnerability.

I believe, Dr. Detweiler, that those on the search committee and the Board of Trustees knew this to be also true of you. They knew of your willingness to leave the security of what you know鈥攖o know more. To let your creative imagination imagine anew.

And now here you are, our third President. May I say, perhaps, our third fool.

The Third in psychology refers to a psychic space that interrupts complementarities, sameness, exclusiveness in an attempt to create and imagine new configurations, adjustments, a place to breathe, to think more creatively and spontaneously. The Third is always grounded and discovered through relationship.

The Third in theology is understood as the Triune God and in specific, the Holy Spirit, who gives breath and breadth. The Spirit who disrupts our labored minds drawn to binaries, certainties, power, and invites us into risky, mysterious places empowering us (as we read in our collective statement of faith) to resist systemic powers that strike against justice, peace, and equity in our world. The Third is also grounded in the complexity and beauty of the holy relationship of the Trinity.

天美视频 is now all grown-up. It is 21 years old. We are now legitimate, accredited, recognized鈥攚e are a part of the norm. We are impressive! We are adults. But we know how easy it is for adults to slip into arrogance, defensiveness, and power grabs. So we must be careful to remember our 鈥済round,鈥� that is, where we have come from, as we faithfully continue to dream big and be imagineers of the next.

鈥淲e must be careful to remember where we have come from as we faithfully continue to dream big and be imagineers of the next.鈥�

The Puget Sound was officially renamed the Salish Sea in 2009. Why? Because someone remembered.

They remembered the First Nations people鈥攖he very first inhabitants of this incredible place that several million now call home. Biologist Bert Webber along with 70 First Nation Tribes sought to rename one of the world鈥檚 largest, biologically diverse and rich inland seas鈥攏ot simply to rename and honor the past, but to ensure the sustainability and future of their culture and the fragile ecosystem of the sea.

Remembering the past orders the future.

This is also demonstrated in our ancient ritual of the Holy Eucharist, where we gather at the table to remember, to confess, to restore. It is food for the journey. But we don鈥檛 remain at the table, for to do so would be gluttonous. To remain would be to escape the realities of our lives and others and to ignore our participation in being Christ鈥檚 presence in our world. No, the cleared table serves as a vantage point and signals us to get up and go.

Your task, Dr. Detweiler, as the Third at this non-traditional academic institution, is to encourage us to sit and to get up. To gather us to remember, to confess, and to restore, and then to go on to live on the edge, foolishly imagining and implementing Christ鈥檚 Kingdom here on earth.

As we go forth, help us remember our groundedness.

Keep us as wide-eyed as those foolish founders who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Be our Third鈥攖hat one who is restless and impatient with the norm, the existing state of affairs, the easy, the expected. Be our Third who ignites our imaginations and our passions, that Third that breaks up our places of stuckness standing in the way of being fully alive.

For we know that the glory of God is the human person fully alive!

I wish to assure you that you will not be alone, for you will joined by a group of other fools who believe we exist to make a difference, here on the edge of the Salish Sea.

Thank you.

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鈥淧rior to launching the study, I had to contend with my own reluctance to codify technical principles, easily identifying with many in the analytic community who view the analytic experience as 鈥榰nformulated technique,鈥� believing that what we do is intuitive, automatic, and organic. Though this may be true, I think it is also true that each analyst has their own internal guidelines 鈥� they are simply not articulated. Secondly, my draw to psychoanalysis was essentially a spiritual calling. I understand our vocation as an invitation into the sacredness of the human encounter where change and healing occurs by calling to the depth of each person within the encounter. The nature of the human condition, the fluidity of the self and our relationships, is not categorical. So to label, categorize, or define scientifically this unique relationship, I found unsettling.鈥�

Drawing on the mapping of his own mind as he sat with patients, contributions from his students, and dozens of interviews with senior analysts, Dr. Barsness identified seven core techniques that contribute to healing and transformation in the therapeutic relationship: therapeutic intent, therapeutic stance/attitude, deep listening/affective attunement, relational dynamic: the there and then and the here and now, patterning and linking, repetition and working through, courageous speech/disciplined spontaneity, and love. Drawing on his own work and in collaboration with leading analysts and clinicians, including Lewis Aron, PhD, Steven Knoblauch, PhD, Karen J. Maroda, PhD, ABPP, Nancy McWilliams, PhD, Allan Schore, PhD, Pratyusha Tummala-Narra, PhD, Dr. Barsness brings life and depth to these categories with research, reflections from analytics, and clinical vignettes.

鈥淭his book is dedicated to all of my students from the several institutions that I have had the privilege to teach 鈥� Fuller Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, University of Washington 鈥� and in particular, the students at 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology, who have inhabited my life these past 13 years. It is students who asked the right questions that motivated the research and the writing of this book. I am also grateful to those who grant me the privilege of supervising and mentoring them, and to my/our patients, who instruct us all in bettering our skills in our service to others. I wish for my students and mentees to know that they are mentors to me and have been instrumental in my own formation as a person, as a clinician, and as a professor.鈥�

Dr. Barsness is an active member of the American Psychological Association, the Relational Psychoanalytic & Psychotherapy Group – Seattle, the Christian Association of Psychology, and the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study. Some of his previous publications include: Surrender & Transcendence in the Therapeutic Encounter; Playing with our cards face up: The power of acknowledging sexual arousal within the therapeutic setting; and .

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Several years ago, I stumbled upon simple but profound text, Listening to the Heartbeat of God. It was a book that resonated deep within my own soul as it eloquently reminded me of the heart of God beating in each and everyone of us 鈥� inviting me to look and to search for the love of God present in every living thing. 聽In reading this book, by John Philip Newell who at one time was the warden of the Abbey on the Isle Iona, I felt enchanted by his references to the island referred to as a 鈥渢hin place where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual.鈥� 聽I knew I wanted to make a pilgrimage to this place, to reflect, deepen my knowledge and my faith; and to be led by this man, John Philip. 聽When the time came for me to do so, it also came to me that to share this with 天美视频 community would deeply enrich my own journey into the sacred. 聽And indeed I found this to be true. 聽Following our 2014 Pilgrimage I wrote the following to my fellow pilgrims:

As we jostled along on the train from Oban to Glasgow鈥攎ost of you zonked out from endless hours of prayer and solitude, my heart warm towards each of you, it came to me 聽that pilgrimages must be done in groups with friends and persons with common interests. Sharing such a unique experience, I have now come to understand, deepens that which we seek. As we joined together in the sharing of the bread, and of the wine, the scotch and the dance, the rituals of the Celtic community, our endless suppers, the walk across the island, the lambs, the mandela, the love and insights of our beloved John Philip and Ally, and鈥�. in the quiet listening deeply for the heartbeat of God, birthed from our communion, something within our private hearts was shifting, something new was being birthed. I believed then and believe now that each of us was being called to something deep within.

This listening and being together in community takes courage, because it calls forth our vulnerabilities. 聽And yet, fearing what may be revealed, we also know that the deeper we are willing to look, we will find the very thing for which we yearn鈥攖he love of ourselves, the love of the other and the deep and abiding love of our God. Oh how I pray we will keep alert and not run when we are afraid. I pray that you will grow deeper into how loved and lovely you/we are. For the more we can grasp this divine love, abiding within ourselves and within the other, the more we are able to breathe the love of God into our hurting world.

As I awoke this am, I went to the Abbey Worship Book and turned to聽the Morning Service. Here in the Affirmation we read:

We affirm that we are made in God’s image, befriended by Christ empowered by the Spirit. We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity, planted more deeply than all that is wrong. We celebrate the miracle and wonder of life; the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world.

And in prayers for gratitude and concern for Monday are: O God, lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. We ask it for your own name’s sake. Amen.

May this fresh new voice continue to enliven you as you fondly remember its sounds from spoken in the ancient walls of the Abbey. I pray that you have not yet forgotten and that these words will penetrate your heart and soul in our ordinary not always liminal lives we are called to live. The life of Ordinary time. 聽I pray that whatever good work that began in you in Iona, will follow you all the days of your life as we dwell in the heart of our Lord together here in sacred harmony with one another each and every day. I pray that we will not be “heaven waiters” on this earth waiting for what is next, but that we will take our Lord’s Prayer very seriously and pray and live, the kingdom here on this earth.

Remembering our short liturgy of living on the Isle of Iona where we gathered for morning service in the Abbey, (some of you!) to the work of the day, to dance and revelry in the evening, may you continue to construct a deep spiritual life that reflects, works and plays as well as you did in Iona. 聽You are wonderful wonderful people. 聽My love to each of you. 聽Roy

Knowing of the deep healing and reunions with God that many of the pilgrims experienced in Iona, I thought what better thing could be done, than to bring Iona to Seattle. John Philip was eager to know us better and to share his life with us further. So the time has come. From January 14-16, 2015, we who have been and those of you who will join us will pilgrim together, discovering God in new and wonderful ways.

John Philip will be speaking to us not only of the Celtic spirit of a loving God whose heartbeat beats within us all, but will call us forth into a New Harmony, believing that, 鈥渇or the world鈥檚 well-being and for our own individual well-being, we need to know that all things are interwoven and that each strand in the tapestry is holy. 聽We need to know that our distinct races, our countless species, our many wisdom traditions, our children, and the men and women of every nation are wonderful 鈥榦utbursts of singularity鈥� each carrying within them the life of the One.鈥� 鈥� from A NEW HARMONY, by John Philip Newell.

禄

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