Cognitive-Humanistic Psychodynamics: Sidney Blatt’s Theoretical-Philosophical Legacy

Abstract

A number of broad-based, theoretical-philosophical tenets are to be gleaned from Sidney Blatt’s voluminous, extensive, and unique scholarly work. Dominant themes in Blatt’s life and work include (1) his fascination with cognition, particularly mental maps, or representations, of reality; (2) the influence of humanistic values (e.g., agency, need for growth, gestalts, need for balance, and an optimistic focus on resilience); and (3) a steadfast adherence to Freud’s revolutionary discovery of the dynamic unconscious. Philosophically speaking, Blatt has left a unique, integrative, and vibrant legacy for the field, one that might be called cognitive-humanistic psychodynamics.