Hearing Voices: the Fate of the Analyst's iDentifications

There is countertransference, not just to individual patients, but to the process of psychoanalysis itself. The analytic process is a contentious topic. Disagreements about its nature can arise from taking it as a unitary concept that should have a single definition whereas, in fact, there are several strands to its meaning. The need for the analyst's free associative listening, as a counterpart to the patient's free associations, implies resistance to the analytic process in the analyst as well as the patient. The author gives examples of the self-analysis that this necessitates. The most important happenings in both the analyst's and the patient's internal worlds lie at the boundary between conscious and unconscious, and the nature of an analyst's interventions depends on how fully what happens at that boundary is articulated in the analyst's consciousness. The therapeutic quality of an analyst's engagement with a patient depends on the freeing and enlivening quality, for the analyst, of the analyst's engagement with his or her countertransference to the analytic process.

Section: Countertransference (And Countertransference Resistance) To mentioning

confidence: 92%

The analyst’s countertransference to the psychoanalytic process

Parsons¹

2006

“…Suddenly I think again about what has just transpired in the interaction between us and about what I know from her earlier excitements, and I say, 'Or perhaps your arousal started when I said that looking at me would be too aggressive'. 'Yes', she says with conviction, and it subsequently leads us into an exploration of the ways she experiences my words as invitations into secret and forbidden pleasures (excerpted from Smith, 2001).…”

Section: Merton Gillmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…He says a bit more about this and then pauses, adding, 'It seems like I was just here.' I say, 'The taste of herring still in your mouth' (excerpted from Smith, 2001).…”

Section: Does the Transference Neurosis Exist?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of transference: A North American perspective

Smith¹

2003

Self Cite

Using detailed clinical vignettes, the author illustrates and compares several North American approaches to the analysis of transference, tracing their origins in Freud's works and in various post‐Freudian conceptualizations, including the writings of Anna Freud and Charles Brenner. Particular attention is paid to the work of Merton Gill, Evelyne Schwaber, Paul Gray, and the British analyst, Betty Joseph. Discussed and illustrated are controversies over the broader and narrower views of transference, the interpretation of action in the analytic setting, earlier and later interpretations of transference with particular emphasis on the contrast between contemporary Kleinian and ego psychological perspectives, the role of extra‐transference interpretation, and the concept of the transference neurosis. An argument is made for an integrative approach, drawing upon different emphases, depending on the clinical circumstances and the point of affective immediacy for the patient, which may or may not coincide with the point of affective immediacy for the analyst.

“…The analyst's countertransference to a particular patient is infl uenced by a host of factors that provide even further complexity to the clinical picture. Each time analysts set foot in their offi ces, they carry within themselves allegiances to supervisors, teachers, authors, and to theories themselves (Smith, 2001). We are inextricably tied to a host of ambivalently held identifi cations with those who came before us.…”

Section: Implications For Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Bound in a nutshell’: Thoughts on complexity, reductionism, and ‘infinite space’

Gabbard

2007

Pluralism is the hallmark of 21st century psychoanalytic discourse. Nevertheless, an unpleasant byproduct of pluralism is a tendency in some quarters to retreat into orthodoxy, stemming from a perceived need to shore up theoretical boundaries in the service of differentiating one theory from another. The delineation of borders places us at a risk of losing sight of the fact that genuine psychoanalytic thinking is fundamentally non-reductionistic. Moreover, the core psychoanalytic notion of overdetermination, which Freud never abandoned throughout his career, has recently been neglected as authors argue in their communications that one point of view is better than another. Both analysts and their patients secretly are drawn to simple formulations that eschew complexity. The need to remain open to the "infinite space" of meaning, motive, and causation should be a hallmark of clinical psychoanalytic practice. The author considers the implications for technique, and provides case material to illustrate some of the challenges inherent in approaching psychoanalytic work as a complex phenomenon.