There are surely two distinct vantage points at issue in the analytic situation, but it is Grossman (and Renik) who blur the distinction in failing to regard the patient’s view of the analyst’s vantage point as a vital focus of inquiry. In neglecting this dimension they assign a greater objectivity or truth value to the analyst’s view of his own vantage point. The analyst, in their position, becomes the Objective knower of his own Subjectivity.

Thus, while we may not be able to ‘set aside’ our own understanding, nor to ‘isolate and abstract’ our personal responses, we might recognize that we have only our own version of our understanding and of our responses. The patient may have another version—however expressed or hidden—about and from which both patient and analyst may have yet to learn.

Cordially,
Evelyne Albrecht Schwaber

December 1996