Shelley Nathans is on the faculties of The Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Group and The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California and is director/producer of Robert Wallerstein: 65 Years at the Center of Psychoanalysis. Her publications include, "Oedipus for Everyone: Revitalizing the Model for LBGTQ Couples and Single Parent Families'' (Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 2021). She is co-editor (with Milton Schaefer) of Couples on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy and the Tavistock Model (Routledge, 2017). She is in private practice in San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Preface 1. Re-visioning Creativity in Couple Psychoanalysis: The Importance of Winnicott and Bollas in Clinical Practice 2. Discussion of "Re-visioning Creativity in Couple Psychoanalysis: The Importance of Winnicott and Bollas in Clinical Practice" by David Hewison 3. Love as Creative Illusion and its Place in Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy 4. Discussion of "Love as Creative Illusion and its Place in Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy" by Julie Friend 5. Infidelity as Manic Defense 6. Discussion of "Infidelity as Manic Defense" by Shelley Nathans 7. Viewing the Absence of Sex from Couple Relationships Through the "Core Complex" Lens 8. Discussion of "Viewing the Absence of Sex from Couple Relationships Through the 'Core Complex' Lens by Amita Sehgal 9. Lesbian and Gay Couple Relationships: When Internalized Homophobia Gets in the Way of Couple Creativity 10. Discussion of "Lesbian and Gay Couple Relationships: When Internalized Homophobia Gets in the Way of Couple Creativity" 11. Lost - and Found - in Translation: Do Ronald Fairbairn's Ideas Still Speak Usefully to 21st Century Couple Therapists? 12. Discussion of "Lost - and Found - in Translation: Do Ronald Fairbairn's Ideas Still Speak Usefully to 21st Century Couple Therapists?" by Molly Ludlam 13. Approaching Couples Through the Lens of Link Theory 14. Discussion of "Approaching Couples Through the Lens of Link Theory " by Monica Vorcheimer 15. The Application of Contemporary Self Psychology to Couple Psychotherapy 16. Discussion of "The Application of Contemporary Self Psychology to Couple Psychotherapy" by Carla Leone 17. Co-Parent Therapy and the Parenting Plan as Transitional Phenomena: Working Psychoanalytically with High Conflict Separating and Divorcing Couples 18. Discussion of "Co-Parent Therapy and the Parenting Plan as Transitional Phenomena: Working Psychoanalytically with High Conflict Separating and Divorcing Couples" by Dana Iscoff

Following the critically acclaimed Couples on the Couch, this volume offers further compelling ideas about couple psychotherapy from a psychoanalytic perspective.
The book well represents the foundational basis of the Tavistock model and draws deeply from the work of Freud, Klein, Bion, Meltzer and the contemporary Kleinians, while expanding the theoretical model by featuring ideas about couple relationships written from a variety of psychoanalytic frameworks. These additional frameworks include Winnicottian Theory, Fairbairn's Object Relations Theory, Link Theory, Self Psychology, Attachment Theory, Mentalization Theory, and Contemporary Relational Theory. This rich array of theoretical models, presented with exemplifying clinical material, results in a diverse assembly of papers that offer the reader an in-depth and complex view of a psychoanalytic approach to understanding and working with the dynamics of couple relationships.
With clear clinical guidance, this book will be invaluable for all psychoanalysts and psychotherapists working with couples.