Chapter 1: Relational-Cultural Theory: At the Heart of the OST Field

Ideas we now take for granted, such as the human need for connection, the value of empathy and compassion, and the power of positive relationships to foster growth, can be traced back to Jean Baker Miller and her seminal book, Toward a New Psychology of Women (1976). The book’s content, once viewed as dangerous, radically challenged prevailing ideas about human growth and development (Jordan, 2018; Trepal & Duffey, 2016). Miller offered an alternative to the entrenched psychological models that articulated healthy human development as a process of increasing separation, autonomy, and independence (Duffey & Somody, 2011). These models did not align with what Miller heard from her mostly female patients in her clinical practice (Jordan, 2017). She sought to add the voice of women’s experience to psychological theory, identifying connection, empathy, and mutuality not as weaknesses or lower stages of development, but as strengths (Rector-Aranda, 2019). Over time, through close collaboration with others, Miller’s beginning ideas evolved into the relational cultural theory (RCT).