Lee Jaffe’s Unifying Approach to Psychoanalysis

Abstract

Lee Jaffe’s presidential plenary paper demonstrates his career-long emphasis on unifying psychoanalysis and its theories. His use of Freud’s various technical concepts to make psychoanalytic theory applicable to talking psychotherapies of all kinds, analytic and nonanalytic, is a notable achievement and a useful pedagogical tool. By valuing common ground and unification, he aligns himself with luminaries such as Wallerstein and Rangell, who had similar goals. In keeping with these values, I offer a schematic outline of what the sort of integrated model valued by Jaffe might include.