Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:12:07.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relational Individualism and Feminist Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Jennifer Radden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

My aim here is to clarify the practice of honoring and validating the relational model of self which plays an important role in feminist therapy. This practice rests on a tangle of psychological claims, moral and political values, and mental health norms which require analysis. Also, severe pathology affects the relative “relationality” of the self. By understanding it we can better understand the senses of autonomy compatible with and even required for a desired relationality.

Type
Research Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , Summer 1996 , pp. 71 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agich, George. 1994. Evaluative judgement and personality disorder in philosophical perspectives on psychiatric diagnostic classification, ed. Sadler, John Z.Wiggins, Osborne, and Schwartz, Michael. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. 1994. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Baier, Annette. 1985. What do women want in a moral theory? Nous 19 (1): 53–65.10.2307/2215117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baier, Annette. 1986. Trust and antitrust. Ethics 96 (2): 231–60.10.1086/292745CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belenky, Mary J., Clinchy, Blythe M., Goldberger, Nancy R., and Tarule, Jill M. 1986. Women's ways of knowing. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Seyla. 1987. The generalized and the concrete other: The Kohlberg‐Gilligan controversy and feminist theory. In Feminism as critique: On the politics of gender, ed. Benhabib, Seyla and Cornell, Drucilla. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Jessica. 1984. The convergence of psychoanalysis and feminism: Gender identity and autonomy. In Women therapists working with women: New theory and process of feminist therapy, ed. Brody, Claire. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Bernay, Toni, and Cantor, Dorothy. 1986. The psychology of today's women: New psychoanalytic visions. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.Google Scholar
Bishop, Sharon. 1979. Self‐determination and autonomy. In Philosophy and women, ed. Bishop, Sharon and Weinzweig, Marjorie. Belmont: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Bograd, Michele. 1988. Enmeshment, fusion or relatedness: A conceptual analysis. In Women, feminism and family therapy, ed. Braverman, Lois. New York: Haworth.Google Scholar
Brothers, Doris. 1995. Failing backwards: An exploration of self and trust experience. New York: WW. Norton.Google Scholar
Broverman, Inge K., Broverman, D. M., Clarkson, F., Rosenkrantz, P., and Vogel, S. 1970. Sex‐role stereotypes and clinical judgments of mental health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 34 (1): 1–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, Laura. 1994. Subversive dialogues: Theory in feminist therapy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Chodorow, Nancy. 1978. The reproduction of mothering. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Chodorow, Nancy. 1986. Toward a relational individualism: A mediation of the self through psychoanalysis. In Reconstructing individualism: Autonomy, individuality and the self in Western thought, ed. Heller, Thomas C. and Wellbery, D. E.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Chodorow, Nancy. 1989. Feminism and psychoanalytic theory. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Christman, John. 1995. Feminism and autonomy. In Nagging questions, ed. Bushnell, Dana. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Collins, Barbara. 1993. Reconstructing codependency using self‐in‐relation theory: A feminist perspective. Social Work 38 (4): 470–76.Google Scholar
Dambrot, Faye, and Reep, Diana. 1993. Overview of feminist therapy: A treatment choice for contemporary women. Journal of Training and Practice in Professional Psychology 7 (1): 11–25.Google Scholar
Davison, Gerald C. and Neale, John M. 1986. Abnormal psychology: An experimental clinical approach. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Debold, ElizabethWilson, Marie, and Malave, Idelisse. 1993. Mother‐daughter revolution: From betrayal to power. Reading, MA: Addison‐Wesley.Google Scholar
Downing, Nancy E., and Rousch, Kristin L. 1985. From passive‐acceptance to active commitment: A model of feminist identity development for women. Counseling Psychologist 13 (4): 695–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eichenbaum, Luise and Orbach, Susie. 1988. Between women: Love, envy, and competition in women's friendship. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Enns, Carolyn. 1991. The “new” relationship models of women's identity: A review and critique for counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development 69 (3): 209–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, Carolyn. 1993. Twenty years of feminist counseling and therapy: From naming biases to implementing multifaceted practice. Counseling Psychologist 21 (1): 3–87.10.1177/0011000093211001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faludi, Susan. 1991. Backlash: The undeclared war against American women. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Feinberg, Joel. 1986. The moral limits of the criminal law. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fenichel, Otto. 1945. The psychoanalytic theory of neurosis. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Ann. 1986. Motherhood and sexuality: Some feminist questions. Hypatia 1 (2): 3–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flax, Jane. 1990. Thinking fragments: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and postmodernism in the contemporary West. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Flax, Jane. 1993. Disputed subjects: Essays on psychoanalysis, politics, and philosophy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry. 1971. Freedom of the will and the concept of a person. Journal of Philosophy 68 (1): 5–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franks, Violet. 1986. Sex stereotyping and diagnosis in psychopathology. Women and Therapy 5 (2/3): 219–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. 1914. On narcissism: An introduction. In The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, ed. Strachey, James. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Marilyn. 1989. Feminism and modern friendship: Dislocating the community. Ethics 99 (2): 275–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Marilyn. 1991. The social self and the partiality debates. In Feminist ethics, ed. Card, Claudia. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Frye, Marilyn. 1983. The politics of reality. Trumansberg, NY: Crossing Press.Google Scholar
Gilbert, Daniel and Cooper, Joel. 1985. Social psychological strategies of self‐deception. In Self‐deception and self‐understanding, ed. Martin, Mike. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a different voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1986. Remapping the moral domain: New images of the self in relationship. In Restructuring individualism: Autonomy, individuality, and the self in Western thought, ed. Heller, Thomas C. and Wellbery, D. E.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol., Ward, J. V., and Taylor, Jill M. eds., 1988. Mapping the moral domain. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol, Lyons, Nona P., and Hanmer, Trudy J. 1990. Making connections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Govier, Trudy. 1992. Trust, distrust, and feminist theory. Hypatia 7 (1): 16–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Govier, Trudy. 1993. Self‐trust, autonomy, and self‐esteem. Hypatia 8 (1): 99–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenspan, Miriam. 1983. A new approach to women and therapy. New York: McGraw‐Hill.Google Scholar
Grey, Carolyn. 1991. Relatedness as purpose: A psychoanalytic inquiry into gender imperatives for women. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 27 (4): 661–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare‐Mustin, Rachel, and Marecek, Jeanne. 1986. Autonomy and gender: Some questions for therapists. Psychotherapy 23 (2): 205–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, Heinz. 1960. Psychoanalysis and moral values. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Hartocollis, Peter. 1987. Current status of the diagnosis of borderline syndrome. In Diagnostics and psychopathology, ed. Flach, Frederic. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Held, Virginia. 1990. Feminist transformations of moral theory. Philosophical and Phenomenological Research 50 (5): 321–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Elizabeth, and Bayes, Marjorie. 1981. Women and mental health. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Irigaray, Luce. 1985a. This sex which is not one. Trans. Porter, Catherine with Burke, Carolyn. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Irigaray, Luce. 1985b. Is the subject of science sexed? Trans. Edith Oberle. Cultural Critique 1 (2): 73–88.10.2307/1354281CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, William. 1890. The principles of psychology. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Jack, Dana. 1991. Silencing the self: Women and depression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jakubowski, P.A. 1977. Assertion training for women. In Psychotherapy for women, ed. Rawlings, Edna I. and Carter, Dianne K.Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Jordan, Judith, and Surrey, Janet. 1986. The self‐in‐relation: Empathy and the mother‐daughter relationship. In The psychology of today's women. See Toni Bernay and Dorothy W. Cantor, 1986.Google Scholar
Jordan, Judith, Kaplan, A.G., Baker Miller, Jean, Stiver, Irene, and Surrey, Janet. 1991. Women's growth in connection. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Josselson, Ruthellen. 1987. Finding herself: Pathways to identity development in women. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Alexandra. 1991. Male or female therapists for women: New formulations. In Women's growth in connection. See Judith Jordan, A. G. Kaplan, Jean Baker Miller, Irene Stiver, and Janet Surrey, 1991.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Marcie. 1983. A woman's view of DSM‐III. American Psychologist 38: 786–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohut, Heinz. 1971. The analysis of the self. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Kristeva, Julia. 1989. The black sun: Depression and melancholy. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Laing, R.D. 1959. The divided self. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Landrine, Hope. 1989. The politics of personality disorder. Psychology of Women Quarterly 13 (2): 325–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehrman, Katherine. 1992. The feminist mystique. New Republic 206 (11): 30–34.Google Scholar
Lerman, Hannah. 1986. From Freud to feminist personality theory: Getting here from there. Psychology of Women Quarterly 10 (1): 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerman, Hannah. 1992. The limits of phenomenology: A feminist critique of the humanistic personality theories. In Personality and psychopathology: Feminist reappraisals, ed. Brown, Laura S. and Ballou, Mary. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Lerner, Harriet. 1988. Women in therapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Long, Kathleen, and Long, Kenneth. 1992. Searching for models of fully functioning women. Women-in-Therapy 12 (1–2): 213–25.Google Scholar
Luria, Zella. 1986. A methodological critique. Signs 11 (21): 316–21.10.1086/494224CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mednick, Martha T. 1989. On the politics of psychological constructs: Stop the bandwagon, I want to get off. American Psychologist 44 (8): 1118–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meissner, W. W. 1987. In Diagnostics and psychopathology, ed. Flach, Frederic. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Meyers, Diana. 1989. Self, society and personal choice. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Meyers, Diana. 1994. Subjection and subjectivity: Psychoanalytic feminism and moral philosophy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alastair. 1981. After virtue. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
McNamara, Kathleen, and Rickard, Kathryn. 1989. Feminist identity development: Implications for feminist therapy with women. Counseling and Development 68 (2): 184–89.Google Scholar
Millham, John, and Kellog, Richard. 1980. Need for social approval: Impression management or self‐deception? Research in Personality 14 (4): 445–57.Google Scholar
Miller, Jean Baker. 1976. Toward a new psychology for women. Boston: Beacon.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Juliet. 1988. Psychoanalysis and feminism. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Nedelsky, Jennifer. 1990. Law, boundaries, and the bounded self. Representations 30 (Spring): 162–89.10.1525/rep.1990.30.1.99p0354uCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbett, Richard, and Ross, Lee. 1980. Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgement. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‐Hall.Google Scholar
Noddings, Nel. 1984. Caring: A feminist approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Raz, Jonathan. 1986. The morality of freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ruddick, Sara. 1989. Maternal thinking: Toward a politics of peace. Boston: Beacon.Google Scholar
Russell, Denise. 1986. Psychiatric diagnosis and the oppression of women. Women and Therapy 5 (4): 83–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, Denise. 1994. Psychiatric diagnosis and the interests of women. In Philosophical perspectives on psychiatric diagnostic classification, ed. Sadler, JohnWiggins, Osborne, and Schwartz, Michael. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Sandel, Michael. 1982. Liberalism and the limits of justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stolorow, Robert D., and Atwood, George E. 1992. Contexts of being: The intersubjective foundations of psychological life. Hillsdale, NJ: Atlantic.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Barbara S. 1989. Psychotherapy grounded in the feminine principle. Wilmette, IL: Chiron.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1979. Atomism. In Philosophy and the human sciences: Philosophical papers, Vol. 2, ed. Taylor, Charles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weinzweig, Marjorie. 1986. Should a feminist choose a marriage‐like relationship? Hypatia 1 (2): 139–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T. 1985. Self‐deception without repression. In Self‐deception and self‐understanding, ed. Martin, Mike. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Wolf, Susan. 1990. Freedom within reason. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Young‐Eisendrath, Polly E., and Wiederman, Florence L. 1987. Female authority. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar