Guiding Analysis by the Analyst's Associations and Self-Analysis

In this article, my purpose is twofold: On the one hand, I present a further step in Freud's method of analyzing his own associations and suggest basing psychoanalytic work on research of the analyst's associations;1 on the other, I attempt to solve those problems of the classic model caused by its foundations in the investigation of the analysand's associations. Among those problems are that of objectivism and, most fundamentally, the faulty implementation of the basic rule of the analytic method, free association. Different streams, generally unified under the rubric post-classical, have turned to subjectivist and intersubjectivist theories when endeavoring to solve these problems; I, however, argue that these revisions do not solve the model's basic issues.

Over the past few decades, highly significant changes have transformed the world of psychoanalysis. These changes have stressed the cardinal importance of the analyst's subjectivity and associations as well as their effect on patients and on the analytic process. My aim in this article is, therefore, to contribute to these developments and to guide them one step further. I am convinced that the most fruitful direction for promoting the development of the analyst's therapeutic capacities hinges on the broadening and deepening of data collection through the investigation of the analyst's associations as described below. This investigation provides the most direct and accurate means for evaluating the analyst's subjectivity, his perceptions of his analysands, the type of interactions he favors and his influence on the therapeutic process. By following this route, we can ‘close the circle’ and continue along the path Freud marked when studying his own dreams and parapraxes. After Freud's impressive exposition of his own associations and self-analysis in The Interpretation of Dreams and The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, he halted the process. Although Freud's biographers have suggested that he continued his self