David E. Scharff

David Scharff, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is one of the leading theorists in Object Relations Therapy. This contemporary revision of psychoanalysis emphasizes the attachments and emotional bonds developed between oneself and others, especially those from one's family of origin. By making use of transference and countertransference dymanics -- that is, the authentic and projected aspects of the therapeutic relationship -- Scharff focuses on helping people let go of entrenched dysfunctional ways of relating to others.

Scharff is Director of the International Institute of Object Relations Therapy, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and a teaching analyst at the Washington, D.C., Psychoanalytic Institute. [adapted from The Mummy at the Dining Room Table (2003)]