Grace, too: the sense of agency and Jeremy Safran's relational vision.

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0372630 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-6741 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00029548 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Am J Psychoanal Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: : Basingstoke, UK : Palgrave Macmillan
Original Publication: New York, Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis*/history ; Psychoanalytic Theory*; Humans ; History, 20th Century

The sense of agency, our felt sense of authorship for our actions, is a difficult concept to define, yet its faltering stands at the heart of psychopathology. Historically undertheorized by psychoanalysis and typically positioned opposite relatedness by clinical psychology, Jeremy Safran conceived of agency and relatedness as paradoxically related. This paper pays tribute to Safran's ideas by taking his writings on agency as a starting point to elaborate how agency forms, and goes awry, in the relational crucible of early life. In doing so, the paper draws on the developmental theory of Winnicott, empirical research on embodied agency from adjacent fields of study, and Safran's clinical phenomenology.
(© 2024. Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.)

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Keywords: Safran; Winnicott; agency; embodiment; faith; grace; optimal disillusionment; surrender

Date Created: 20240805 Date Completed: 20240909 Latest Revision: 20240909

20240910

10.1057/s11231-024-09464-8

39103516