Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast
Aug 28, 2026 · 1 hr 46 min · 11 segments
In this episode, Dr. David Puder and his psychodynamic psychotherapy training cohort apply reflective function (RF) and mentalization concepts to John Steinbeck's masterpiece East of Eden. They…
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I am joined with a cohort group that went through my psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy training, and we are going to be talking about East of Eden.
If you haven't read it, there may be some wisdom you can still gain from this episode.
Specifically, I was thinking about this book in terms of reflective function collapses, collapses of the ability to see reality, to see truth in the face of rejection, shame, threatened attachment.
We're gonna be looking at how this kind of perspective taking disappears in the midst of shame, fear, rejection, attachment, arousal, a lot of what we see in ourselves and our patients.
We're gonna be talking about how good reflective function is improved in different characters through some of the secret heroes of the book.
We're gonna be talking about this kind of like merging together of all good, all bad contradictory parts of ourself with a key theme that may be illuminated that personality health is not the disappearance of aggression, dependency, narcissism, withdrawal, guilt, or control.
It is the growing ability to recognize conflicting parts of the self using a wider array of defenses, remain in contact with reality, and stay related to people who cannot be made perfect.
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I am joined with a cohort group that went through my psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy training, and we are going to be talking about East of Eden.
If you haven't read it, there may be some wisdom you can still gain from this episode.
Specifically, I was thinking about this book in terms of reflective function collapses, collapses of the ability to see reality, to see truth in the face of rejection, shame, threatened attachment.
We're gonna be looking at how this kind of perspective taking disappears in the midst of shame, fear, rejection, attachment, arousal, a lot of what we see in ourselves and our patients.
We're gonna be talking about how good reflective function is improved in different characters through some of the secret heroes of the book.
We're gonna be talking about this kind of like merging together of all good, all bad contradictory parts of ourself with a key theme that may be illuminated that personality health is not the disappearance of aggression, dependency, narcissism, withdrawal, guilt, or control.
It is the growing ability to recognize conflicting parts of the self using a wider array of defenses, remain in contact with reality, and stay related to people who cannot be made perfect.