The art and science of beginning an analysis has a life of its own and can be considered in many ways quite apart from its later stages. An incremental path forward is smoothed for patients who are not yet prepared to analyze, and builds eventually into something readily recognizable as an analysis. The term analytic preparation refers to this set of processes. Early on, the analyst is concerned less with facilitating an early replica of an idealized analysis than with facilitating the mutual adaptation of patient and analyst as they begin to negotiate a “thought community.” Since analytic preparation is not an entity, it does not neatly overlap in real time with the opening phase as usually described, does not have a discrete beginning or end, and does not abruptly shift midstream into analysis proper. Some relations between analytic preparation, analytic interaction, and the interpretation of transference are examined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Almond, R. (2003). The holding function of theory. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association51:131—154.
2.
Aron, L. (1992). Interpretation as expression of the analyst's subjectivity. Psychoanalytic Dialogues2:475—507.
3.
Bader, M. (1994). The tendency to neglect therapeutic aims in psychoanalysis . Psychoanalytic Quarterly63:246—270.
4.
Bion, W. (1963). Elements of Psycho-Analysis. London: Heinemann.
5.
Boesky, D. (1990). The psychoanalytic process and its components . Psychoanalytic Quarterly59:550—584.
6.
——— (2004). Psychoanalytic controversies and clinical evidence: A model of clinical disputes. Paper presented to the International Psychoanalytical Association, New Orleans , March 12.
7.
Brenner, C. (1990). On beginning an analysis. In On Beginning an Analysis, ed. T.J. Jacobs & A. Rothstein.Madison, CT: International Universities Press, pp. 47—56.
8.
Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and Difference. Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
9.
Edelson, M. (1984). Hypothesis and Evidence in Psychoanalysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
10.
Fenichel, O. (1941). An outline of psychoanalysis. Psychoanaytic Quarterly10:169—173.
11.
Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
12.
Fonagy, P. (2002). Some complexities in the relationship of psychoanalytic theory to technique. Psychoanalytic Quarterly72:13—48.
13.
Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. Standard Edition4/5.
14.
——— (1905). Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria . Standard Edition7:7—122.
15.
——— (1912). The dynamics of transference. Standard Edition12:99—108.
16.
——— (1913). On beginning the treatment. Standard Edition12:123—144.
17.
——— (1919). Lines of advance in psycho-analytic therapy. Standard Edition17:159—168.
18.
——— (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. Standard Edition18:7—64.
19.
——— (1923). The ego and the id. Standard Edition19:12—66.
20.
——— (1924). The economic problem of masochism. Standard Edition19: 159—170.
21.
Friedman, L. (1989). The Anatomy of Psychotherapy. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
22.
Galison, P. (2003). Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps: Empires of Time. New York: Norton.
23.
Gedo, J. (1996). The Languages of Psychoanalysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
24.
Gitelson, M. (1962). The curative factors in psychoanalysis: The first phase of psychoanalysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis43:194—205.
25.
Glover, E. (1955). The Technique of Psycho-Analysis. New York: International Universities Press.
26.
Goldberg, A. (1987). Psychoanalysis and negotiation. Psychoanalytic Quarterly56:109—129.
27.
Goldberg, S. (1994). The evolution of patients' theories of pathogenesis . Psychoanalytic Quarterly63:54—83.
28.
Green, A. (1975). The analyst, symbolization and absence in the analytic setting: On changes in analytic practice and analytic experience (in memory of D.W. Winnicott). International Journal of Psychoanalysis56:1—22.
29.
Greenacre, P. (1954). The role of transference: Practical considerations in relation to psychoanalytic therapy. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association2:671—684.
30.
Greenberg, J. (2002). Psychoanalytic goals, therapeutic action, and the analyst's tension. Psychoanalytic Quarterly71:651—678.
31.
Grossman, W. (1995). Psychological vicissitudes of theory in clinical work. International Journal of Psychoanalysis76:885—899.
32.
Grubrich-Simitis, I. (1986). Six letters of Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi on the interrelationship of psychoanalytic theory and technique. International Review of Psychoanalysis13:259—277.
33.
Hoffman, I. (1994). Dialectical thinking and therapeutic action in the psychoanalytic process. Psychoanalytic Quarterly63:187—218.
34.
Jackendoff, R. (1984). Semantics and Cognition. Cambridge : MIT Press.
35.
Jacobs, T.J. (1990). Introduction. In On Beginning an Analysis, ed. T.J. Jacobs & A. Rothstein.Madison, CT: International Universities Press, pp. xiii—xviii.
36.
Joseph, B. (1982). Addiction to near-death. International Journal of Psychoanalysis63:449—456.
37.
Kris, A.O. (1985). Resistance in convergent and in divergent conflicts . Psychoanalytic Quarterly54:537—568.
38.
Latour, B. (1999). Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
39.
Loewald, H. (1972). Some considerations on repetition and repetition compulsion. International Journal of Psychoanalysis52:59—66.
40.
Ogden, T. (1989). Subjects of Analysis. Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
41.
Renik, O. (2001). The patient's experience of therapeutic benefit . Psychoanalytic Quarterly70:231—242.
42.
Rubenstein, B. (1975). On the clinical psychoanalytic theory and its role in the inference and confirmation of particular clinical hypotheses. Psychoanalysis and ContemporaryScience4:3—58.
43.
Sandler, J. (1960). The background of safety. International Journal of Psychoanalysis41:352—356.
44.
Schafer, R. (1992). Retelling a Life. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
45.
Schwaber, E. (1998). From whose point of view? The neglected question in analytic listening. Psychoanalytic Quarterly67:645—661.
46.
Searl, M. (1936). Some queries on principles of technique. International Journal of Psychoanalysis17:471—493.
47.
Searle, J. (1995). The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press.
48.
Spezzano, C. (1998). The triangle of clinical judgment. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association46:365—388.
49.
Stone, L. (1961). The Psychoanalytic Situation. New York: International Universities Press.
50.
Ticho, E. (1972). Termination of psychoanalysis: Treatment goals, life goals. Psychoanalytic Quarterly41:315—333.
51.
Waelder, R. (1962). Psychoanalysis, scientific method, and philosophy . Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association10:617—637.
52.
Whitehead, A. (1947). Essays in Science and Philosophy. New York: Philosophical Library.
53.
Wilson, A. (2003). Ghosts of paradigms past: The past and future evolution of psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association51:825—855.
54.
——— (in press). Analytic positions, repetition, and the organization of emotional memory. Psychoanalytic Inquiry.
55.
——— & Weinstein, L. (1996). The transference and the zone of proximal development . Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association44:167—200.
56.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.
