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Horney described the person with a personality disorder as divided, lacking wholeness of self. Torn between the despised and idealized selves, the patient acts out self-effacing, detached, and expansive trends. The therapeutic task is to discover and eliminate factors obstructing the path toward self integration. I propose that a vital element in the psychoanalytic relationship is that of integrity. If integrity is not maintained by both analyst and patient, therapeutic work is obstructed and cannot proceed until the breach of integrity is mended.
The therapeutic relationship is established with the specific purpose of furthering the patient's development. Neither patient nor therapist is present to exploit the other, an inherent pitfall when integrity is not maintained. Forces from the patient, the analyst, and the environment threaten to rupture the integrity of the relationship. These forces exerted any time are likely to be most concentrated during the therapeutic hour.
I propose the following equation: the therapist's integrity and the patient's integrity yields integrity of the psychotherapeutic relationship. Without a therapeutic relationship of integrity, the goal of the patient's integration cannot be achieved. As therapists, our responsibility lies in maintaining our own integrity and guiding our patients on the road toward theirs.
Ledermann (1982) defines ethics as the realm of the “ought,” the realm of conscience which postulates that Man has the freedom to carry out what he judges to be morally right. The goal then of psychotherapy is authenticity. Ledermann rejects the deterministic elements in behavior therapy and in psychoanalysis, as they intrude upon the aim of authenticity.
Brautigam (1984) writes about the application of psychoanalytic theory with factors as perception, regression, catharsis, etc., as an aim resulting in neglect