Variations in Classical Technique: Concluding Remarks

It is impossible, for obvious reasons, to render justice to all the many interesting contributions made by the various discussants.

Bouvet stressed an important facet of the analysis of transference phenomena by the use of the term 'distance'. This term, as he said, stands for many complex psychic processes involved in the transference and in the way of analysing it. Hence it may often be important for the purpose of clear description in a given case to spell out its various components concretely. A case in point is Annie Reich's beautiful case presentation. In this instance the use of the term 'distance' would not have been as illuminating as was her description of the technical changes to which she had to resort. It is a moot question whether the technique used in this case should come under the heading of modifications or of variations of psycho-analytic technique.

S. Nacht's contribution deals with problems centring around the anonymity of the analyst and the optimal degree of frustration. He rightly reminds us of the fact that many a patient's resistance makes use of the very essentials of psycho-analytic treatment; moreover, that this type of resistance may become so difficult to surmount as to necessitate changes in the use of certain practical rules otherwise beneficial to the treatment. Nacht also describes cases in which a 'reparative gift' on the part of the analyst is required to enable the patient to give up his self-destructive behaviour. He further alludes to some cases where the analyst, in order to achieve what he terms a 'restructurization' of the ego, has to abandon his usual neutrality and replace it by an attitude of 'presence'. Nacht acknowledges the origin of this term in its use by Racamier in a paper on schizophrenia. This confirms the impression one gains that the patients here referred to are afflicted with severe ego disturbances, probably exceeding the limits of a neurosis. In such cases, indeed, considerable variations or even