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Psychoanalysts believe that psychological work by the patient after termination of analysis consolidates and extends gains made during treatment. However, there is controversy over whether further contact bet-ween patient and analyst is appropriate. Some argue that if a patient returns to see the analyst it signifies an incomplete treatment, whereas others maintain that after termination a therapeutic relationship endures
and that patients can therefore benefit from recontacting their analysts. Systematic data on posttermination contact are limited.
Questionnaires were distributed to active graduates of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research inquiring about the analyst's three most recently terminated cases that met the following criteria: the patient was in analysis; the analysis ended, for any reason, at least one year prior to the survey; and the case was not a training analysis (though control cases from the analyst's training could be included).
Sixty percent (109/181) of analysts returned the survey, with 87 providing data on 241 cases. The median age of the patients was 31-40 years, and 42% percent were male. Eighty-three percent of cases were conducted at a frequency of four times a week, and 97% used the couch. Thirty-one percent of patients took psychotropic medication at some point during the analysis, and analysts prescribed the medication in 67% of these cases. Of the 241 cases, 22% continued for less than three years, 54% for three to six years, and 25% for more than six years; the median duration of an analysis was between four and five years.
In 87% of cases, regular contact ended at the termination of the analysis; in these cases, the possibility of posttermination contact was raised by 78% of the analysands. Eighty-seven percent of analysts let their patients know they could be available in the future.
Of the 210 cases in which regular contact ended with termination, 35% of patients had no subsequent contact, 2