You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This collection of papers by Masud Khan, spanning the years from 1975 to 1982, furthers his explorations of the self and the other recorded in his previous volumes, The Privacy of the Self and Alienation in Perversions. The papers in this current book provocatively question traditional metapsychology and technique, though the answers to the questions he raises are not altogether satisfying or complete. However, there are many novel and unique ideas presented, and the case material makes for fascinating reading, richly and vividly portraying the patients, the analyst, their interactions, and the 'holding space' of the analyst's consultation room within which they work together.
In the preface, the author indicates that he does not intend to satisfy fully, stating, 'this book has no pretentions to offering a "scientific" explication of the other. It is an attempt at sharing the discourse between me and the other. He adds 'encounters take place that ease only gradually in untrust from both sides and enable occasional sharing of the hidden selves of each with the other'. The author does succeed in his proposed intent. The details of his 'encounters', and the work that takes place between analyst and patient that bring about what the author refers to as 'self-cure', allow the reader to become involved in the therapeutic processes and be exposed to the author's notes and associations. He is more explicit in revealing the 'hidden self' of the patient than himself, though there are implications of the latter through his associations, interpretations, and attitudes toward the patients and his therapeutic approaches.
Khan introduces his theme of shared responsibility in therapy of both analyst and patient in this opening chapter entitled, 'Freud and the crises of psychotherapeutic responsibility', first published in 1975. The first half of this chapter is a most interesting and erudite review of an historical perspective on the development of the self through the works