TY - JOUR A1 - Binder, Per-Einar A1 - Nielsen, Geir Høstmark T1 - Balancing Losses and Growth: A Relational Perspective on Identity Formation in the Second Half of Life JF - The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 33 (2005), pp. 431-452. Y1 - 2005 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Binder, Per-Einar T1 - Following old paths to new places – thirdness, mentalization, and the search for a transformational meeting JF - International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 18 (No. 3, 2009), pp. 168-176. N2 - Both parts of the therapeutic dyad are searching for ways of relating between them that are more flexible and that open up new possibilities for thought and feeling. When therapy succeeds, patients transcend old transference expectations and fears in a meeting with another subject, a meeting with qualities of something essentially new. Here, it is hypothesized that the patient in the transference unconsciously searches for a transformational meeting with another person. Through the interaction that is a result of this search, the patient moves between twoness and thirdness, and thereby enhances his or her mentalizing capacity. A transcript (of recorded material) from an intensive psychoanalytic therapy with a female patient in her early twenties is presented, analyzed, and discussed, focusing on how she made progress in her relational search during a session. Y1 - 2009 ER -