To Coerce and Be Coerced

Coercion is a way of forcibly influencing others. While one's core conflicts may contribute to an experience of being coerced in any interaction, specific situations or circumstances commonly encountered in clinical practice set the stage for analyst or patient to feel forced or manipulated. The interaction that develops in these instances is conceptualized as a coercive enactment. Conditions that increase the susceptibility to coercing and being coerced may develop at any stage in the psychoanalytic process. Supervision and conversion from psychotherapy to psychoanalysis are examined as situations that predispose to coercion. Silences and other difficulties in maintaining the analytic frame, as well as crises in the life of the analyst, may also lead to coercive enactments. Pertinent literature is reviewed and illustrative clinical cases are presented.

Coerce: To compel by force, intimidation, or authority, esp. without regard for individual desire or volition. To dominate or control, esp. by exploiting fear, anxiety.

Coercion in the clinical practice of psychoanalysis may appear in a variety of guises—as “authority,” “reassurance,” “suggestion,” “participation,” and even “interpretation.” We became interested in the concept of coercion, as applied to the analytic process and relationship, while participating in a discussion group on coercion in the supervisory process.1 We began to recognize that coercive elements are