The Analyst's Participation in the Process

Using a clinical vignette, in which self-disclosure appears as a starting point, the authors investigate the connection between method and techniques. As the recent literature on the subject generally maintains, the classical analysts' neutral position can no longer be accepted. Analysts are always fully engaged in the intersubjective relationship and pass their values on to their patients through their professional roles — which can be understood as self-disclosure in a wider meaning. However, self-disclosure, and in more general terms the analyst's participation in the process, need technical criteria of reference. By deepening the relationship between method and techniques, established by Rapaport, the authors maintain that method is determined by theory and in turn gives meaning to techniques. As a consequence, techniques play a minor role with regard to theory and method. The opening of psychoanalysis to the relational perspective is bringing about the decrease of technique as an absolute value in favour of a greater self-awareness of the analyst who, following the method related to his/her theory will be able to better cope with techniques.