The Use of Obscene Words in the Therapeutic Relationship

Without in the least discounting the brilliance of some of the initial psychoanalytic insights into personality dynamics, I believe that many of the early formulations of the therapeutic process were limited by a restricted interpretation of the transference phenomena. Transference has been and remains a basic concept in explaining the process of psychoanalytic therapy. As originally stated, however, the concept referred more strictly to the transference of infantile attitudes toward parents onto the therapist. The projection of these childhood attitudes in an unmodified form was thought to be a product of the analytic procedure. The personality of the therapist was considered of little consequence in determining the nature of the therapeutic relationship. It was left to the analysts of more modern schools to recognize that important factors other than attitudes learned in childhood will affect the therapeutic relationship. These analysts recognized explicity that therapy itself presents a unique social situation which bears upon the very process of therapy. Also at present there is general recognition that the particular personality structure, as well as the specific activities of the therapist, play an important role in determining the patient's perceptions and projections in therapy.

The writer believes that many of the early psychoanalytic insights could be fruitfully reexamined, particularly in the light of Sullivan's1 notions of the interpersonal aspects of the patient-therapist relationship. In this vein the following essay attempts to reformulate Ferenczi's ideas about the role of obscene words in therapy.

Ferenczi2 stated some provocative ideas on this subject. He was struck by the fact that patients could often talk about seemingly emotional experiences without displaying signs of disturbance. In these cases, the affective feelings of the patient seemed to be divorced from the words used to describe the experience. Ferenczi found, however, that the full impa