Dyadically expanded states of consciousness and the process of therapeutic change
Infant Mental Health Journal January 1, 1998 Edward Z. Tronick, Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern, Alexandra M. Harrison et al. 396 citations
Humans strongly seek emotional connectedness because it expands individual states of consciousness into more coherent and complex dyadic states. The Dyadic Expansion of Consciousness Hypothesis, grounded in the Mutual Regulation Model of infant–adult interaction, explains this drive. When mutual regulation of affect succeeds, it generates shared intersubjective states; when it fails, the infant's mental health suffers. The same process applies to patient–therapist relationships, where collaborative regulation of affect can produce therapeutic change.