Earthquakes in the Analytic Field: A Post-Bionian View of Negative Therapeutic Reaction

This paper examines Negative Therapeutic Reaction (NTR) as proposed by Freud and extended by Kleinian and North American analysts before reinterpreting this well-known phenomenon through the lens of post-Bionian field theory. Employing Bion's concept of the obstructive object, the author suggests that NTR is characterized by a recognizable phenomenological sequence including impairment of the analyst's alpha function. When, as advocated by post-Bionian field theory, these reactions are understood as co-generated by the analytic group-of-two a more collaborative atmosphere develops in the analytic field. Just as pressure within the Earth produces movement of tectonic plates resulting in earthquakes of varying intensity, the author finds it metaphorical to consider NTR an emotional “earthquake” that can erupt following increasing intimacy in the analytic relationship. Clinical material illustrates how the analysand's experience changes depending on how the analyst listens to transformations occurring in the analytic field. In one case, the analyst employs a “you/me” mode of listening which hinders receptivity to communication via projective identification making NTR the dispatch of last resort. In a second, the analyst adopts a “we/us” mode of listening enabling her to employ NTR to restore a co-dreaming function as terra firma of the analytic relationship.