Phil’s most recent work on his evolving model of improvisation in psychoanalytic practice makes the case that improvisation taps into involuntary processes such as humor, laughter, and grief, thereby bypassing secondary processes of conscious reflection. Episodes of improvisational engagement, he argues, take both patient and analyst into a mode of bi-directional free association that culminates in episodes of “thirdness.” Said another way, it co-creates the relational unconscious of both participants’ minds working together. In this manner, Phil contends, an improvisational mode of engagement is the clearest instantiation of complexity theory in psychoanalytic therapeutic action.

Philip Ringstrom, Ph.D., Psy.D. is a Senior Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty Member at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, California. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal on Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and Psychoanalytic Perspectives. He is also a member of the International Council of Self-Psychologists and a founding member of the board of directors of the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He has published over 50 journal articles and has presented at conferences all over the world. He is currently under contract with Routledge Publications for his upcoming book in 2013, entitled A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Conjoint Therapy.

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