Temptations on the Road to Becoming an Analyst

I will approach tonight's topic about becoming an analyst from the perspective of the seductions and temptations I encountered in my training as a candidate. So I will entitle my presentation “Temptations on the Road to Becoming an Analyst.” I expect that the temptations I identified are an inevitable and even a necessary source of my motivation and resistance to become an analyst. I will try to share with you a series of questions I encountered on my path to understand the nature of the analytic stance. I would like to hear your reflections about your experience of free-floating attention.

I have for many years been fascinated by artistic and scientific innovation, and I admire the courage and creativity it takes to challenge traditional ways of giving meaning and doing things. But I was also quite impressed by the resistance coming from the people who interpreted these innovations as narcissistic injuries. I experienced both sides of this dynamic in my private practice with my patients and also within myself.

As I chose my career, I confronted myself with many temptations and hesitations. Would I choose a more artistic or a more scientific field of work? Becoming a psychologist became one of my compromise formations. But even in that field I was torn between my attraction to research and