Authors
Christiane Steinert
Published in
Zeitschrift fur Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie. Volume 72. Issue 2. Pages 128-136.
Abstract
Positive programs in psychotherapy strive for progress, integration and coherence. However, an overly positive orientation carries the risk of flattening complexity, and assimilating contradictions. This idea is illustrated in more detail by use of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis-3 (OPD-3). In the OPD-3, a high level of structural integration is conceptualized as a rather rigid construct, implying that a structurally mature person not only understands their inner life but also has it under control and is permanently capable of achieving levels of integration that ultimately seem unrealistic. Similarly, a unity between love and sexuality is normatively emphasized and equaled with good personality functioning, while disparate, pressing, and uncontrollable aspects are pathologized as immature. Freud's insight that we are not masters in our own house and psychoanalysis's unique contributions to these complex dynamics find little place within this framework. Tensions and challenges arising from such a conceptualization are discussed.
PMID:
42429011
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Jul 2026.
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