Treatment Preparatory To Psychoanalysis

A Reconsideration After Twenty-Five Years

Bibliographic Data

ID8336384
AuthorsStephen B Bernstein (0000-0001-6960-4177, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine; Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume58
Issue1
Pages27-57
Publication date2010-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0003065110361251
PMID20234008
OpenAlexW2124432762
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited57

The author’s initial article on treatment preparatory to psychoanalysis (1983) challenged the long-held belief that a therapy with the same analyst would contaminate a subsequent analytic transference. The current article reconsiders the original process of transition from therapy to analysis and describes methods that can further its effectiveness. Although specific noninterpretive interventions to enhance preparation for analysis are rarely written about, they are discussed among colleagues and in supervision. Levy (1987) has described a bias against the description of strategic or tactical choices in analysis. It is increasingly clear that some patients’ fear of exposing shameful defectiveness underlies their resistance to entering analysis, as does the originally described fear of an uncontrolled regression. It is useful to delay interpretation until shame sensitivity can be assessed and modulated. In the past there was pressure to keep the preparatory therapy brief so that the analyst would not become too well known to the patient. Less concern about strict anonymity allows more time for the patient’s resistances to abate before the recommendation is made. Methods are described and clinical illustrations show how a deepening process can be fostered, how indications of readiness for the transition can be assessed, and when and how the recommendation can be made

Anonymity · Interpretation (philosophy) · Process (computing) · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychological intervention · Psychotherapist · Relation (database) · Resistance (ecology) · Shame · Transition (genetics) · Computer Science · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Psychological Testing and Assessment · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

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