You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Michael Feldman, a leading figure in the London group of Kleinian analysts, has developed a powerful and remarkably coherent approach to clinical theory and technique in his work of the past twenty-five years. In Doubt, Conviction and the Analytic Process, Feldman pays unparalleled attention to the impact of the patient's communications on the mind of the analyst at work. These thirteen interrelated papers—some published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, others presented here for the first time—address a central question: to what extent does any experience in analysis—doubt, conviction, splitting, projective identification, reassurance, compliance, grievance—“reflect processes within the analyst, to what extent do they derive from the patient's pressure and projections, how do these elements interact, and what are their possible effects on the movement in the session?” (p. 232). Written with exceptional clarity and immediacy, this book enables us to follow the evolution of Feldman's thought as he expands existing theory to contend with the clinical dilemmas encountered by all analysts. As Roy Schafer writes in his introduction, “One has the sense of being welcomed into the workshop of a master analyst to reflect with him as he works on key concepts” (p. xiii).
Feldman's unique perspective is to view whatever topic he is writing about through the lens of the moment-to-moment interactions between analyst and patient in the analytic session. He has the ability to “see a world in a grain of sand” while never losing sight of the patient's history and character, the hour as a whole, or the phase of the analysis. Emphasizing the centrality of unconscious fantasies, Feldman maps a route to psychic change through technical approaches deeply grounded in the theories of Freud, Klein, and his contemporary Kleinian colleagues. He also draws from unexpected sources, such as Joseph Sandler and Ernst Kris. Feldman often begins at a point of impasse in the analytic enco