On the Receptive Function of the Analyst

The subjective experience of the analyst has been observed from a number of angles in its role as receptive function. The latter has been hitherto a largely unexplored region of the analyst's functioning which precedes his cognitive work. In addition to his active listening to the patient's material, the analyst may use a passive form of listening which is less directly focused on the patient. In this form of listening the analyst is able to pick up stimuli emanating from his own mental, and some times physical, experience. In this aspect of the analyst's work he makes use of his own primary process experience. In the use of his subjective experience the analyst's regressive experience takes on increased significance. There is involvement of both libidinal and aggressive drives, and therefore of less neutralized ego functions. For this reason a neutral, observing stance towards his own subjective experience is as necessary for the analyst as his neutral stance in response to the patient's material. The analyst's subjective experience is not the equivalent of countertransference. An attempt is made to clarify the relationship between them. The analyst utilizes his receptive function to experience the patient's unconscious, and to help the patient find language for phenomena and experience therein for which the patient had not previously any

verbal symbols. The receptive function is of special use in the analysis of resistance. The receptive function is derived from the infant's coenaesthetic organization which has been described by Spitz. A number of clinical examples of the use of the receptive function are given. The components of the receptive function are described.