Transpersonal processes: a bridge between object relations and attachment theory in normal and psychopathological development.

Abstract

This paper has three aims: (a) to present the further development of the concept of transpersonal processes and the bimodal theory of relational cognition; (b) to show how the bimodal concept illuminates developmental theory and facilitates the move from object relations theory toward a relational systems model; and (c) to show how the attachment paradigm and the notions of internal working models (Bowlby, 1973) and self-reflective capacity (Fonagy, 1991) are both congruent and synergistic with the transpersonal and bimodal concepts.