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As I was getting ready for this discussion, I decided to type Dr Jacobs's paper into my portable PC to make things easier. In fact, I had never felt the need to copy out a whole text before. Besides this unusual typing task, I found there was something particular in his style that led me to write in the first person what both the analyst and the patient had said. I then had the extraordinary feeling of inputting the material as if it were my own, since I was unintentionally rewriting the same paper, that is, producing Dr Jacobs's twin! Thus, 'I' become 'them', standing 'side by side' in their East Side, and they, too, unwittingly entered my mental life. Now, in front of the 'real' Dr Jacobs and you all, the spell is broken.
But, although I was not the authentic analyst, this sharing of consulting-rooms placed me in a parallel, where our analytic minds were organised in an almost experimental way. The context was so duplicated as to suggest the following question: 'There being two analysts sharing the same listening, towards which interpretation will their minds be oriented?'.
My experience with the material was facilitated by Dr Jacobs's true, confessional style, which includes his most intimate associations. It is a manner that in turn awakens a reciprocal, sincere and empathic listening. However,