Countertransference

Dear Mr. Tuckett,

This 'letter to the editor' is a consequence of my having had the privilege of reading Dr Evelyne Schwaber's paper: 'Countertransference: The Analyst's Retreat from the Patient's Vantage Point' (Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 73: 349–362).

One of the memorable moments in my acquaintance with Dr Schwaber was the recall of a day, more years ago than either of us would like to count, when Dr Schwaber was a resident in psychiatry. She and I were on one of the pediatric wards at the Boston City Hospital, observing what was then known as a 'failure to thrive' infant, an infant of some 7–8 months of age that had gained only a bare few pounds since birth. In addition to its malnourishment and frailty, the infant was difficult to feed, sleeping very poorly, although crying little. Our interest, however, was drawn to the eyes of the infant. The lids never closed, the aperture was narrowed but the eyes of the infant were ever-vigilant—watching—always watching us, as we were watching him. The vigilance of this derailed