Joseph J. Sandler

Joseph J. Sandler (10 January 1927 – 6 October 1998) was a British psychoanalyst within the Anna Freud Grouping – now the Contemporary Freudians – of the British Psychoanalytical Society; and is perhaps best known for what has been called his 'silent revolution' in re-aligning the concepts of the object relations school within the framework of ego psychology.

Born and educated in South Africa, Sandler moved to London, where he completed his PHD in psychology at University College, London in 1950, before further training in medicine and psychoanalysis. He became a training analyst in 1955.

Sandler was editor of the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis from 1969 to 1978; and was elected President of the International Psychoanalytical Association in 1989.

Sandler took an open, pragmatic approach to psychoanalytic theorising – something particularly important in the wake of the Controversial discussions which had left a three-way split inside the British Society. He took the view that 'we have a body of ideas, rather than a consistent whole, that constitutes psychoanalytic theory', and called for 'a greater degree of tolerance of concepts...created by people who have a different psychoanalytic background' – something that was of great importance in his rapprochement between Kleinian ideas and ego psychology.

Sandler emphasised early in his work (1959) the importance of the feeling of safety, which he linked to early experiences of primary narcissism' He noted however that the search for safety could act as a resistance in psychotherapy; but also highlighted the role of a sense of trust in forging the therapeutic alliance.

Sandler introduced the term actualisation into psychoanalysis from literary studies, to cover the process whereby past object-relationships are brought to life within the analytic setting. Through what he termed the free-floating (if controlled and moderated) 'role responsiveness' of the therapist, the latter was able to bring into being the unconscious fantasy of the patient and so expose it to light – becoming in the process someone a little different with each patient.

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