From Ferenczi to Kohut: From Confusion of Tongues to Self-Object

The “Confusion of Tongues” paper (Ferenczi, 1933) was presented at the Twelfth Psychoanalytic Congress at Weisbaden at 9 A.M. on September 4, 1932. It was published in German a year later but was withdrawn from circulation by Ernest Jones and was not published in English until 16 years afterward. It is ironic to recall Freud's (1927) pronouncement—“The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing”—when we know that Freud tried to discourage Ferenczi from presenting the paper.1

“Confusion of Tongues” (COT) can be looked at from various angles. What I would like to do is to share some thoughts that have led me to suggest a developmental line from this paper to some ideas of Kohut, with Balint connecting them. These thoughts originated from my reencounter with the paper a few years ago, when I was finishing my psychoanalytic training and becoming informed of self psychology. Afterward, I discovered ideas about Ferenczi's being an anticipator of self psychology in papers by Rachman (1989), Aron and Harris (1993), and Benedek (1993). Finally, I will try to outline personal similarity between these two pioneering figures.

Let us look at some of the ideas in the COT paper. The first is Ferenczi's critical attitude toward the power component in the therapy relations, which allows him to discern the destructive potential that can be manifested by the therapist toward the patient, as Hoffer (1993) put it—the therapist may reinflict the trauma rather than analyze the repetition of the trauma in the transference. There is no need to mention the names of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers who acted improperly and harmed their patients in order to realize that this potential is liable to be actualized in the horrendous form of sexual exploitation. We know that this potential exists even in therapy conducted according to proper professional