A therapist assessing with a view to couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy needs to hold several potentially conflicting points of view in mind simultaneously. Firstly the therapist attends to the experience of the session as an interaction with the ‘shared internal world’ of the couple, in the present, seeking to understand the dynamic meaning of whatever happens in the course of the meeting. At the same time the assessor needs to explore the question of appropriateness of different possible treatments, which may necessitate explicitly seeking certain kinds of information, relating, for example, to early experience or to risk assessment.

The various points of view can be felt to be in conflict with each other, and I suggest that different parts of this complex enterprise are unfamiliar to, and may be neglected by different professional groups.