Technical Aspects of the Analysis of an Adolescent Boy

The author asks to what extent the work of analysis can be regarded as an activity of the analyst or a task of the patient. While the work of analysis obviously involves both, very different therapeutic techniques and processes result according to whether stress is laid on the analyst's or the patient's activity. The choice of one or other of these positions appears to depend on the analyst's assumptions about the importance of participation of the ego in the analytical process and of interaction with the environment for the formation of psychical structure. An attempt is made to answer the question by presentation of the case of a boy entering upon adolescence with an obsessional neurosis and underlying ego damage. The therapist's technical approach, based on maximum respect for the patient's spontaneous activity, is analysed in detail. The therapeutic and analytical results obtained appear to confirm the validity of this passive and cautious technique on the part of the analyst in the case presented. However, final resolution of the question would require a comparative study of treatments performed by analysts representing both schools.