Psychoanalysis as Education Presenter: Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D. Discussant: Kenneth Winarick, Ph.D. Date: January 17, 2002.

Following the publication of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process and Psychoanalytic Case Formulation , Nancy McWilliams has developed the reputation of being a gifted educator of clinical process, capable of transforming complex ideas into comprehensible, accessible language. She once again demonstrated her remarkable clarity during the presentation of her paper titled “Psychoanalysis as Education.” McWilliams stated that psychoanalysis has often been “conceptualized as medicine, as counseling, as religious or ideological indoctrination, as purchased friendship, as a spiritual discipline, and as an artistic pursuit.” However, she argued, as did Freud, that whether or not we would like to believe it, what we all provide for our patients is essentially an “intense, deeply personal, emotionally powerful, intimate kind of education.” She went on to discuss several different areas in which analysts explicitly and/or implicitly educate their patients, including development, trauma and stress, intimacy and sexuality, emotion, and self-esteem maintenance. She emphasized that one of the most important things we do as analysts is essentially teach our patients “how to be patients” and how to collaborate in the therapeutic process. McWilliams suggested that it is often important for patients to understand the context of an analyst's inquiries. Therefore, analysis is often facilitated when analysts provide their patients with explanations regarding their emphasis on free association, the use of the couch, and the importance of analyzing transference, among other things. She indicated that contemporary psychotherapy research supports her ideas and clearly demonstrates that preparing patients for the development of negative feelings experienced toward the therapist strengthens the therapeutic alliance and furthers the treatment. McWilliams went on to describe how information could be therapeutic when it comes within the context o