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This article examines the relational conflict model developed by Stephen A. Mitchell. The main concepts of Mitchell's relational conflict model are discussed, particularly early patterns of connection to parental figures and the interactive treatment approach to understanding and changing those relational patterns. The model is contrasted with classical drive and developmental arrest theories in the psychodynamic treatment of psychopathology. We explain how Mitchell's model, in keeping with a social work perspective, takes into consideration the social, cultural, and environmental factors as well as the intrapsychic. We discuss how patterns of relating are reworked throughout the life course, and we explore the potential for individual agency in constructing new patterns of relating. We also highlight the social constructivist aspects of Mitchell's approach which are congruent with current contemporary trends in social work theory. A case vignette is presented to illustrate the viability of this model for clinical social work practice. KEY WORDS: relational conflict model; psychodynamic treatment; social constructivism.

Cognitive behaviorally oriented step groups are inadequate in addressing all the needs of an abused girl. It may be necessary to address the child's internal scenario of the abuse through psychoanalysis. A relational theory of psychoanalysis can provide a more applicable paradigm from which to see the victim's experience. This approach allows the patient to recreate the experience through an internalized narrative. However, a psychotherapist can never be sure about a patient's history.

Of all the countless phenomena intrinsic to psychoanalytic therapy, the construct of countertransference is one of the most conceptually and technically burdensome. As yet, no single theoretically consistent and universally accepted classification of countertransference responses exists. This article proposes a multidimensional typology of countertransference phenomena which can be employed to help monitor clinical practice.

Psychonalytic phenomena involve complex patterns of behavior which are difficult to model effectively and without oversimplification. This paper presents an approach to modeling which is appropriate for variables treated in psychoanalysis, and it describes a method for reducing the number of variables without losing essential information. The models used are from elementary catastrophe theory and are geometric in form. The approach is scientific in the strict sence that the models generate predictions which can be tested objectively. We illustrate this with an example involving the clinical phenomenon of affect-response. We present a ten-variable model based on the compact double cusp; the model generates an unforeseen, non-trivial, testable prediction.

Even though psychoanalysis has the potential to free the mind it can also (however unwittingly) be used to bind it. This paradoxical tendency is especially noticeable in some psychoanalytic trainings, when students can be under pressures to comply with accepted theory and practice and, in some cases, to `toe the line' in their training analysis and/or in their supervised cases. We therefore have to be increasingly mindful of the ways in which our training of psychoanalytic students can foster a false extension of psychoanalysis, by which the practitioner can become bound to a theory rather than be freed by it. KEY WORDS: pressure; space; technique; compliance; certainty/non-certainty.

Many social workers experience a powerful bond with their profession and with the contributions of psychoanalysis. This paper explores these bonds and demonstrates the substantial overlap, and occasional divergence, which exists between these two important fields. It is especially gratifying to see the renewed emphasis on the treatment relationship in contemporary psychoanalytic writings because the relationship has always been central to social work practice. Finally, all psychoanalytic social workers are encouraged to invest themselves in transferring the legacy of their work to beginning social workers, social work students, and the generations of social workers that will follow them. KEY WORDS: social work; psychoanalytic; psychoanalyst.