Analytic listening is an ongoing conflictual process, containing all the components of conflict and shaped in every moment by both the patient's and the analyst's conflicts. The mutual responsiveness that develops between analyst and patient stems from a complex conflictual object relationship, fundamentally no different from any other object relationship, in which countertransference at all times simultaneously facilitates and interferes with the analytic work. Detailed clinical process is used to illustrate these and related phenomena, including the use of signal conflict, the benign negative countertransference, the function of countertransference structures, and the analyst's use of projection. The analyst's affects, thoughts, and actions trace the shifting nature of the patient's transference and resistance, and the level of the object relationship continuously being created between patient and analyst.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abend, S.M. (1989). Countertransference and psychoanalytic technique . Psychoanalytic Quarterly58:374—395.
2.
Arlow, J.A. (1979). The genesis of interpretation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (suppl.)27:193—206.
3.
——— (1981). Theories of pathogenesis. Psychoanalytic Quarterly50:488—514.
4.
——— (1985). Some technical problems of countertransference . Psychoanalytic Quarterly65:164—174.
5.
——— (1995). Stilted listening: Psychoanalysis as discourse . Psychoanalytic Quarterly64:215—233.
6.
——— (1997). Discussion from the floor, panel on “Countertransference, Self-Examination, and Interpretation.” Fall Meeting, American Psychoanalytic Association, New York, December 19.
7.
——— (1999). Discussion. Psychoanalytic Association of New York, January 11.
8.
Beres, D., & Arlow, J. (1974). Fantasy and identification in empathy. Psychoanalytic Quarterly43:26—50.
9.
Bird, B. (1992). Notes on transference: Universal phenomenon and hardest part of analysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association20:267—301.
10.
Boesky, D. (1990). The psychoanalytic process and its components . Psychoanalytic Quarterly59:550—584.
11.
Bollas, C. (1997). Presentation to panel “What Do We Mean by a `OnePerson' or a `Two-Person' Psychology?” Annual Meeting, American Psychoanalytic Association, San Diego, May.
12.
Brenner, C. (1982). The Mind in Conflict. New York : International Universities Press.
13.
——— (1985). Countertransference as compromise formation. Psychoanalytic Quarterly65:155—163.
14.
Cooper, S. (1998a). Analyst subjectivity, analyst disclosure, and the aims of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Quarterly68:379—406.
15.
——— (1998b). Countertransference disclosure and the conceptualization of analytic technique. Psychoanalytic Quarterly67:128—154.
16.
Deutsch, H. (1926). Occult processes occurring during psychoanalysis . In Psychoanalysis and the Occult ed. G. Devereux.New York: International Universities Press, 1953, pp. 133—146.
17.
Fonagy, P., & Target, M. (1996). Playing with reality I. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis77:217—233.
18.
Freud, S. (1895). Draft H, January 24, 1895. in The Complete Letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess, 1887—1904, ed. & transl. J. Masson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 197—112.
19.
——— (1909). June 7 letter to C. G. Jung. In The Freud/Jung Letters, ed. W. McGuire.Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988, pp. 230—232.
20.
——— (1910). The future prospects of psycho-analytic therapy . Standard Edition11:141—151.
21.
——— (1915). Observations on transference-love. Standard Edition12:159—171.
22.
Gabbard, G.O. (1995). Countertransference: The emerging common ground . International Journal of Psycho-Analysis76:475—485.
23.
——— (1996). The analyst's contribution to the erotic transference . Contemporary Psychoanalysis32:249—273.
24.
Gill, M.M. (1994). Workshop on Process and Technique. Annual Meeting, American Psychoanalytic Association, Philadelphia, May.
25.
Greenberg, J. (1995). Self-disclosure: Is it psychoanalytic? Contemporary Psychoanalysis31:193—205.
26.
Grossman, L. (1999). What the analyst does not hear. Psychoanalytic Quarterly68:84—98.
27.
Heimann, P. (1950). On countertransference. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis31:81—84.
28.
Hoffmann, I.Z. (1983). The patient as interpreter of the analyst's experience . Contemporary Psychoanalysis19:389—422.
29.
Joseph, B. (1989). Psychic Equilibrium and Psychic Change. London: Routledge.
30.
Little, M. (1951). Countertransference and the patient's response to it. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis32:32—40.
31.
Novick, J., & Kelly, K. (1970). Projection and externalization in latency. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child25:69—95.
32.
Ogden, T.H. (1994). The analytic third: Working with intersubjective clinical facts. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis75:3—19.
33.
Orange, D.M. (1995). Emotional Understanding: Studies in Psychoanalytic Epistemology. New York: Guilford Press.
34.
Racker, H. (1968). Transference and Countertransference. New York: International Universities Press.
35.
Reich, A. (1951). On Countertransference. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis32:25—31.
36.
Renik, O. (1993). Countertransference enactment and the psychoanalytic process. In Psychic Structure and Psychic Change, ed. M.J. Horowitz, O.F. Kernberg, & E.M. Weinshel. Madison, CT: International Universities Press, pp. 135—158.
37.
Sandler, J. (1976). Countertransference and role-responsiveness. International Review of Psycho-Analysis3:43—48.
——— Dare, C., & Holder, A. (1973). The Patient and the Analyst. New York: International Universities Press.
40.
Schafer, R. (1968). Aspects of Internalization. New York: International Universities Press.
41.
Schwaber, E.A. (1992). Countertransference: The analyst's retreat from the patient's vantage point. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis73:349—361.
42.
——— (1998). From whose point of view? The neglected question in analytic listening. Psychoanalytic Quarterly67:645—661.
43.
Slakter, E., ED. (1987). Countertransference . Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
44.
Smith, H.F. (1990). Cues: The perceptual edge of the transference . International Journal of Psycho-Analysis71:219—228.
45.
——— (1993). Engagements in the analytic work. Psychoanalytic Inquiry13:425—454.
46.
——— (1995). Analytic listening and the experience of surprise . International Journal of Psycho-Analysis76:67—78.
47.
——— (1997). Resistance, enactment, and interpretation: A self-analytic study. Psychoanalytic Inquiry17:13—30.
48.
——— (1999). Subjectivity and objectivity in analytic listening . Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association47:465—484.
49.
Tower, L.E. (1956). Countertransference. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association4:224—255.
