Psychoanalytic Observation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8336016 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James H Spencer (0000-0002-8639-7808, 30 East End Avenue New York, NY 10028), Leon Balter (30 East End Avenue New York, NY 10028) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 393-421 |
| Publication date | 1990-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/000306519003800206 |
| PMID | 2193975 |
| OpenAlex | W4245377564 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 17 |
The recent focus on empathy as the essential activity in psychoanalytic data gathering has underemphasized the complexity of psychoanalytic observation and has failed to identify what truly makes it unique among modes of psychological investigation. It is a process that includes introspection and empathy. However, it also includes the analyst's observation of the patient's behavior, and particularly verbal behavior, in a way that is not necessarily empathic. The psychoanalytic use of introspection and behavioral observation together, as they are modified by the analysand's free association and the analyst's evenly hovering attention, provides a unique method of data gathering. The transient, mutually related regressions of analyst and analysand which partly constitute the analyzing instrument modify the field of observation available to both, providing better access to derivatives of the analysand's unconscious mental functioning. This more complex concept of psychoanalytic observation, as opposed to that in which empathy is predominant, has important implications for psychoanalytic training, clinical work, and theory
Cognitive psychology · Countertransference · Empathy · Introspection · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Transference · Unconscious mind · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Psychological Testing and Assessment · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology
Soft diamonds
Observation and Theory in Psychoanalysis
From Schisms through Synthesis to Informed Oscillation
The Fundamental Importance of Simple Operational Definitions of Introspection and Empathy
Discussion of Hermann Argelander’s paper
Understanding Therapeutic Action in the Analytic Situation
Monitoring The Analytic Surface
On Focused Association and the Analytic Surface
How Does Analysis Cure?
The principles of psychology.
Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviorist.
On a distinction between hypothetical constructs and intervening variables.
Psychology as the behaviorist views it.
Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation
The Metapsychology of the Analyst
Fantasy and Identification in Empathy
The Development and Distortions of Empathy
The Future of Psychoanalysis
On the Analyzing Instrument
Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis An Examination of the Relationship between Mode of Observation and Theory
Rules of Clinical Understanding in Classical Psychoanalysis and in Self Psychology
Psychoanalysis and Science
Generative Empathy in the Treatment Situation
A history of introspection
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,23 |
| Citation span | 1991 - 2024 (34) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |