Discussion of “Visions of the Future: The Analyst's Expectations and their Impact on the Analytic Process” by Kenneth Winarick

I want to thank Kenneth Winarick for providing me with the opportunity to discuss his stimulating and thoughtful paper. It offers an important contribution to current considerations of the analyst's subjective experience in the analytic situation. Winarick consistently maintains a clear view of the need to maximize the patient's autonomy in the analytic process through a deeper understanding of how our inevitable expectations for the patient can influence our interventions. He carefully delineates the differences between unavoidable and often necessary therapeutic expectations, as opposed to idiosyncratic, subjective intrusions that interfere with the exploration of the patient's inner life.

In my remarks, I will first try to clarify certain concepts that underlie any consideration of subjectivity and expectations. I will then turn to a discussion of two common classes of psychoanalytic treatment where the analyst's expectations play a special role: child analysis, and the analysis of psychoanalytic candidates. Finally, I will illustrate some clinical dilemmas in the case of a man for whom any hint of expectations produced severe negative responses, based on childhood experiences that were initially concealed from his awareness, but that could be uncovered through careful attention to this aspect of our interaction.

Let me begin with the concept of analytic neutrality. Renik and others have questioned the usefulness of keeping the idea of neutrality as an ideal stance for the analyst, arguing that such a stance tends to disengage the analyst from the patient. I believe that conclusion depends on how we understand the concept, and how we utilize it in our interventions with the patient. As Levy and Inderbitzen argue, neutrality—remaining equidistant from the requirements of drives, ego, and superego—does not preclude the existence of therapeutic intent. We are not indifferent about maintaining an