Hi,

Just a brief posting in response to Paul's postings. I really like the phrase "pathocentric" Paul uses in describing other models which pathologize and infantilize the patient. Weiss and Sampson made an emphatic break from that tradition by looking at the plan, which on a phenomenological level just means, to my reading,understanding the patient's goals and intentions - not goals constructed from the outside by the clinician or an ideal theory of normality. Pathocentric models also take a perspective of the person from the outside of the persons's experience, as Paul also notes. From my understanding, classical Freudian views do this, but so do contemporary Kleinian views. Generally, relational theories in general don't, though they vary among themselves in many ways.
Paul asks about where control mastery theory is contrasted with other theories. I wrote two papers and a book review which try to look integratively at the group's work and contextualize it with other relational theories, especially self psychology and attachment theory. I think all these complementary relational theories are better utilized in relation to one another, which avoids reification and overapplying certain favored psychodynamics or approaches.

Rosbrow, T. (1993). "Significance of the unconscious plan for psychoanalytic theory." Psychoanalytic Psychology 10(4): 515-532.

Rosbrow, T. (1995). "Book review. "Understanding Transference: The CCRT Method" by Lester Luborsky and Paul Crits-Christoph." Psychoanalytic Psychology 12(4): 607-610.

Rosbrow, T. (1997). From parallel process to developmental process: a developmental/plan formulation approach for supervision. Psychodynamic Supervision. M. Rock. New York, Jason Aronson: 213-238.
(also in Progress in Self Psychology,1998)