Psychological change in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

In the spirit of Jerome Frank's (1973) pioneering studies of universal characteristics in psychotherapeutic change, I have tried to demonstrate that character development in Pride and Prejudice can be understood in terms of psychoanalytic process. In the course of this thesis certain observations have emerged. Change occurs in the context of a relationship intense enough to disturb the tendency of personality to homeostasis (engagement). The change-inducing relationship is composed of a sequence of effects and countereffects (mutual influence). For these influences to be salutory (therapeutic) there must be a directional pull provided by the attitude of the primary agent of change, a pull that resonates with important motivations of the object of change (directionality). In Pride and Prejudice we recurrently found self-concept, and particularly the question of worth, to be an important interface of these phenomena. As therapists we are familiar with this as a clinical issue. Study of the novel suggests that self-esteem may play a central role in motivating therapeutic change. This observation raises intriguing unanswered questions regarding the conceptualization of self-esteem in psychoanalytic thinking.