Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

How Many Times?

“…In fact, over the decades, since the emergence of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, there has been considerable, constant mutual influencing, with psychoanalysis adopting the ‘supportive’ elements once viewed as the domain of psychotherapy, and psychoanalytic psychotherapists working in the transference in the way that was once the defining characteristic of psychoanalysis (Wallerstein, ). Joannidis () comments that ‘there are cases of twice weekly meetings that bear all the hallmarks of a true analysis’: analytically attuned work is likely to include elements of deep transference‐orientated work as well as information gathering and ego supportive work, moving from one level to another within a single session.…”

“…With more impingement of life events (Freud's ‘Monday crust’), more reflecting back and perhaps more ego supportive work required, maintaining a fully analytic position can become more challenging. We can get caught in a drift away from potentially overwhelming, destabilizing experiencing towards the more cognitive and prescriptive, and can feel pressured towards wrapping up sessions with premature understandings to contain anxieties (Joannidis, ; Mizen, ).…”