The Qualities of the Analyst1

This paper on the qualities of the analyst is the result of long and intense study and exchange of ideas among the candidates at the Association for Intepersonal Psychoanalysis and Group Analysis (SPIGA). We have had to come to terms with the fact that within SPIGA we are individuals with different backgrounds and professional experiences. We feel these differences affect our approach and are important to the sense of our work and identities. The difficulties we have encountered in writing this paper as a group are not so much the result of the need to respect each person's individuality as much as the effort to synthesize this variety. We wish to put elements that have been actually experienced into forms that can be communicated without losing their authenticity.

The experience of putting this paper together has made it possible for us to compare psychological and professional transformations that normally come with knowledge, without falling into an exasperated subjectivity that could culminate in therapeutic omnipotence. On the other hand, we also want to avoid covering emotional deficiencies with arid technicism.

We asked ourselves what made it possible for people who are apparently so different to seek professional training within the same school; this is even more striking if one considers that some of us may already have had a clear, albeit not explicit, model or professional style. Perhaps it was not a single cause that determined this choice; it is possible that more than one related reason may be at play. For some of us it may have been meeting the teachers of the school and its founder, Professor Morrone. For others it was the encounter with Karen Horney's writings. Others may have preferred the way the school is conducted with openness to interdisciplinary encounters and cultural exchange. Finally, and not least important, is a common agreement with Horney's approach to female psychology, more timely than ever within the epistemological debate on gender i