Contemporary psychoanalytic theory, as well as mainstream-psychotherapy theory, has begun to explore views of therapy which emphasize the nonlinear aspects of both psychological change and the patient-therapist dyad. Although not phased in strict nonlinear terms, these conceptualizations attempt to capture aspects of the nonlinear processes they reflect.

One of these concepts, “mutuality” (see Lewis Aron), speaks of the impossibility of a separate self and object, and notes the both dangerous and useful importance of that impossibility for psychotherapy.  In this latter regard, it is important to note that only a few years ago mutuality would have been considered a psychoanalytic heresy (even though some concepts go back to Ferenczi ).

A second contemporary concept is “mindfulness” (see Shauna Shapiro). Although this idea has a long history in meditation practice, and especially some Eastern spiritual practices, it has recently become recast as a therapeutic tool of self-examination and change. As such, mindfulness is understood as a process of self-change which is to be therapeutically engendered in patients. 

A third, related, concept, “mentalization”, involves the processes of “...attending to mental states in oneself and others - in brief, holding mind in mind.” Mentalization includes some of the aspects of mutuality and mindfulness but emphasizes the therapeutic value of the cultivation of a considered, mindfulness of both the self and the other (See Jon Allen and Peter Fonagy.)

In this paper, the theoretical focus of our discussion of will be how these three contemporary ideas capture the nonlinear consequences of (1) the interwoven interaction of the therapy dyad, (2) the self-reflective interaction at the boundary of self/nonself, and (3) the curious challenge of creating and holding “the mind of the other”. A second, pragmatic, focus of the paper will be a proposal of how the therapeutic processes of change may be monitored and how beneficial change can be facilitated in therapy. -Bob Porter, January, 2010.