Robert Langs had a substantial impact on American psychoanalysis in the 1970s and 1980s-both Freudian and Jungian -due to his development of what he termed "the adaptive paradigm." According to Langs, the psychoanalytic tradition had vastly underestimated the clinical importance of adaptation, both the role adaptive problems play in psychological and emotional conflicts as well as the significance adaptation has for understanding unconscious communications in clinical practice. In spite of Langs' impact on the psychoanalysis and analytical psychology of his time, there have been few psychoanalytic studies either of adaptation or of Langs' adaptive paradigm since the 1980s and no attempts to link Langs' thinking with that of Carl Jung. Adaption and Psychotherapy gives a concentrated but complete picture of Langs' adaptive clinical theory and also expands Langs' treatment of adaptation by examining Jung's theory of adaptation. Jung offers an extended treatment of adaptation in his treatise On Psychic Energy. However, understanding Jung's theory of adaptation is difficult, due to Jung's having two diverse and virtually exclusive meanings of "adaptation" in his writings, rendering his thought on adaptation somewhat obscure and, at times, inconsistent. The book differentiates those diverse meanings of adaptation and articulates Jung's positive and clinical understanding of adaptation in a way that allows comparison to Langs' adaptive paradigm as well as a creative synthesis of the two approaches. The result is a development of Langs' adaptive paradigm and an expansion of clinical theory and technique that is valuable for both Freudian and Jungian analysts.
John R White, PhD, LPC is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Philadelphia. He has more than 25 published articles and book reviews as well as a good deal of editing experience in philosophy. He became a licensed mental health counselor and Jungian psychoanalyst with a degree from the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts.
Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter 1: On Psyche and Adaptation Introduction The Notion of "Psyche" in Early Analytic Theory Jung's "Basic Postulates": The Reality of the Psyche Understanding the "Unconscious" On Clinical Interaction or, How Max Scheler was Ahead of His Time Conclusion Chapter 2: Adaptation in the Early Analytic Tradition Introduction Sigmund Freud Adaptation in Ego Psychology: Heinz Hartmann Conclusion Chapter 3: Robert Langs and Adaptation in Clinical Practice Introduction Original Development of Adaptation and the "Adaptive Context" Central Ideas Derived from Langs' Understanding of Adaptation Rearticulating the Analytic Relationship The "Reality" of Therapy Includes the Therapeutic Frame The Communicative Fields Unconscious Communication and Analytic Listening Two Types of Derivative Communication Critical Considerations of Langs' Theory of Unconscious Communication Clinical Illustration Clinical Example Summary Excursus: Final Phase: Adaptation and Death Anxiety Conclusion Chapter 4: Adaptation in Carl Jung Introduction The Concept of "Adaptation" in Jung On Psychic Energy Theoretical Assumptions Progression and Regression of Libido Langs and Jung Adaptation in Clinical Practice Returning to Bruce Clarifying Adaptation in Jung Conclusion Chapter 5: Adaptation and Clinical Technique Introduction What is and What is the Value of Clinical Technique? What Langs and Jung Share How Langs and Jung Might Supplement Each Other Incompatibilities between Langs and Jung Understanding Symbols Individual and Collective Adaptation, Clinical Interaction, and Ethics Conclusion References Index About the Author
