Notes on the Patient, the Analyst and the Past

The Future as Prologue for the Past

“…Psychoanalytic technique focuses on the patient's memories of early life events, such as the experience of the first love relation ship and family information considered forbidden or shameful (Satran, 1989). Through reconstruction of the past, the analyst and patient piece together the drama of early life experience, thereby identifying the events that may have impeded the pa tient's development (Lionells, 1986).…”

“…According to this view, the narrative descrip tion of an event is one step removed from the actual experience. Even if the debate about the validity of the patient's narrative were resolved, the fact that analytic material consists primarily of constructions in the present involving the past means that the an alyst will still need to address the retrospective nature of the pa tient's disclosures (Satran, 1989). Moreover, some theorists sug gest that the excessive use of transference interpretations that often accompanies the traditional method may produce negative treatment effects and, in some instances, may lead to patient with drawal (Piper, Azim, Joyce & McCallum, 1991;Gill, 1982).…”