The Analyst’s Way of Being: Recognizing Separable Subjectivities and The Pendulum’s Swing

Abstract

Whether the analyst finds the patient's emerging transference affectively tolerable or intolerable plays an important role in the analytic couple's negotiation of the configuration that the transference-countertransference relationship ultimately assumes. If the analyst is deeply repelled by transference-related roles to which he is assigned, patient-ascribed attributions, or projection-drenched interactions, he may react in violent protest, engaging in enactments that say more about his separable subjectivity than about the intersubjective situation. While there has been a recent trend to view enactments as a crucial aspect of psychoanalytic technique, this trend risks overlooking the way in which the analyst's way of being comes into play in the treatment.

Conceptual and Technical Aspects of Psychoanalytic Enactment: A Systematic Review

“…This moment 'M' corresponds to a moment when a positive change begins, even though tension is felt at the beginning; or, as Bateman (1998) put it, to a turning point, or sudden break-up (Cassorla, 2001), an 'explosion' (Cassorla, 2008). The participation of the analyst as a narcissistic extension of the patient (a chronic enactment) is interrupted (LaFarge, 2004;Zanocco, De Marchi & Pozzi, 2006;Steiner, 2011;Cassorla, 2001Cassorla, , 2012Cassorla, , 2013Cassorla, , 2017Nos, 2014;Tuch, 2015;Coren, 2015).…”

“…The analyst or therapist is able to 'go off stage' and warn of the different roles that are being played, then transmit to the patient the possibility of developing the ability to broaden his insights. The formerly frightening defences against facing the trauma are now recognized and can be better structured (White, 1992;Levine, 1994;Reed, 1997;Katz, 1998;Bateman, 1998;Burnstein & Cheifetz, 1999;Friedman & Natterson, 1999;Allen, 2002;Ivey, 2008;Steiner, 2011;Pagano, 2012;Strauss, 2012;Sapisochin, 2013;Cassorla, 2001Cassorla, , 2008Cassorla, , 2012Cassorla, , 2013Cassorla, , 2017Coren, 2015;Tuch, 2015). The understanding of the transference and countertransference is thus broadened (Freud, 1905(Freud, , 1910(Freud, , 1912, as is the awareness of projective identification, defence mechanisms (Klein, 1946) and the communication potential of the relationships established in the analytic field (Bion, 1961;Baranger & Baranger, 1961-62).…”

“…Attention should then be paid to verbalizations and clarifications in order to make distinctions between states of mind, in order to reduce anxieties and organize conflicting emotions. Work, including interpretation, participation and empathy, should be constructed not as an intrusive superego from the past, but as an 'invitation' to understand the meanings of the individual's life (Chused, 1991;Gabbard, 1994;Levine, 1994;Almond, 1995;Reed, 1997;Jones, 1997;Bateman, 1998;Friedman & Natterson, 1999;Weiss, 2002;Goldberg, 2002;Wurmser, 2003;Gerson, 2004;Varga, 2005;Ginot, 2007;Ivey, 2008;Ginot, 2009;Strauss, 2012;Cassorla, 2001Cassorla, , 2008Cassorla, , 2012Cassorla, , 2013Cassorla, , 2017Skogstad, 2013;Sapisochin, 2013;Bohleber et al, 2013;Safran & Kraus, 2014;Kogan, 2014;Tuch, 2015;Wright, 2016;Busch, 2017). The quality of an analyst's interpretations reflects her alpha function.…”

“…As long as they go unnoticed, they serve as defences against anxieties, and patients tend to use the analyst as a protective shield against trauma. Just as a mother may bear a baby's anxiety and the baby looks to her for protection, the patient looks to the analyst for the same reason, seeking holding and containment (LaFarge, 2004;Bonovitz, 2009;Steiner, 2011;Cassorla, 2008Cassorla, , 2012Cassorla, , 2013Cassorla, , 2017Bohleber et al, 2013;Tuch, 2015;Coren, 2015;Wright, 2016;Busch, 2017). It is basically the perception by the analyst, through his or her alpha function, that will lead the analytic process ahead by noting collusions and impasses that are blocking or interrupting the progress of therapy.…”

The Vibrant Challenges of Clinically Effective Psychoanalytic Mindedness

“…When a patient identifies his/her analysis as a partial failure, Winnicott () suggests that the analyst must accept the “delusion of failure” (p. 216). Moreover, the analyst's unique affective responses to the frequent experience of becoming “stirred up” in analytic space—that is, his/her “way of being” (Tuch )—play a major role in shaping the patient's transferences, as well as the overall success of the analysis. Along these lines, Chused's () quite remarkable and atypical clinical paper conveys an analyst's humility along with clear‐headed assessment of what might be accomplished in the “most painful” analysis of her career, which “worked and yet … did not work” (p. 850).…”