Analysts have characteristic styles in working with their patients. At times of crisis or stalemate, an alteration in style may facilitate the progress of the treatment. To illustrate the impeding effects of an analytic style at a particular phase of analysis, I describe a stalemate in the analysis of a severely self-critical patient. Recognition of the limiting effects of style on the treatment became apparent in a countertransference enactment, influenced by the patient-analyst match. Self-analysis and alteration in the characteristic style of the analyst resolved the stalemate and enabled the analytic work to progress.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
FreudA. (1936). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. Writings, 2. New York: Int. Univ. Press, 1966
2.
FreudA. (1965). Normality and Pathology in Childhood: Assessments of Development. Writings, 6. New York: Int. Univ. Press
3.
GardnerM. R. (1983). Self Inquiry.Boston: Little, Brown
4.
GrayP. (1973). Psychoanalytic technique and the ego's capacity for viewing intrapsychic activity. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 21:474–494
5.
JacobsT. (1980). Secrets, alliances, and family fictions: some psychoanalytic observations. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 27:21–42
6.
JacobsT. (1983). The analyst and the patient's object world: notes on an aspect of countertransference. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 31:619–642
7.
JacobsT. (1986). On countertransference enactments. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 34:289–307
8.
JacobsT. (1987). Notes on the unknowable: analytic secrets and the transference neurosis. Psychoanal. Inq., 7:485–509
9.
KantrowitzJ. L. (1986). The role of the patient-analyst “match” in the outcome of psychoanalysis. Annual Psychoanal., 14:273–297
10.
KantrowitzJ. L.KatzA. L.PaolittoF.GreenmanD.MorrisH.PaolittoF.SashinJ.KantrowitzJ. L.KatzA. L.PaolittoF.GreenmanD.MorrisH.PaolittoF.SashinJ. (1989). Research in progress: the patient-analyst match and the outcome of psychoanalysis. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 37:893–920
11.
KantrowitzJ. L.KatzA. L.PaolittoF.GreenmanD.MorrisH.PaolittoF.SashinJ.KantrowitzJ. L.KatzA. L.PaolittoF.GreenmanD.MorrisH.PaolittoF.SashinJ. (1990). Followup of psychoanalysis five to ten years after termination: III. The relation between the resolution of the transference and the patient-analyst match. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 38:655–678
12.
KohutH. (1971). The Analysis of the Self.New York: Int. Univ. Press
13.
KrisA. (1977). Either-or dilemmas. Psychoanal. Study Child, 32:91–117
14.
KrisA. (1990). Helping patients by analyzing self-criticism. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 38:605–636
15.
McLaughlinJ. T. (1988). The analyst's insights. Psychoanal. Q., 57:370–389
16.
ModellA. H. (1968). Object Love and Reality.New York: Int. Univ. Press
17.
MyersonP. (1973). The meanings of confrontation. In Confrontation in Psychotherapy, ed. AdlerG.AdlerG.. New York: Science House, pp. 21–38
18.
PolandW. S. (1988). Insight and the analytic dyad. Psychoanal. Q., 57:341–369
19.
RosenV. H. (1961). The relevance of “style” to certain aspects of defence and the synthetic function of the ego. Int. J. Psychoanal., 42:447–457
20.
RosenV. H. (1967). Disorders of communication in psychoanalysis. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 15:467–507
21.
SandlerJ. (1976). Countertransference and role-responsiveness. Int. Rev. Psychoanal., 3:43–47
22.
SchwaberE. A. (1983). Psychoanalytic listening and psychic reality. Int. Rev. Psychoanal., 10:379–392
23.
ShapiroL. (1973). Confrontation with the “real” analyst. In Confrontation in Psychotherapy, ed. AdlerG.AdlerG.. New York: Science House
24.
SonnenbergS. (1991). The analyst's self-analysis and its impact on clinical work: a comment on the sources and importance of personal insights. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 39(3)
25.
SteinM. H. (1981). The unobjectionable part of the transference. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 29:869–892
26.
WeismanA. (1973). Confrontation, countertransference and context. In Confrontation in Psychotherapy, ed. AdlerG.AdlerG.. New York: Science House, pp. 97–146
