Final Questions

The final hour of the Conference was a question and answer period for all of the four panelists, Drs. Britton, Chused, Ellman, and Likierman and the presenter of the case, Dr. Haft. The panelists request that a group of questions be read, rather than responding to them individually, such that they could be integrated in ways that they would find most simpatico with their point of view.

Audience Question: One of our pressing questions is one that I have heard from other groups too: Was the patient lying down or not?

Audience Question: My question has to do with your countertransference and what you felt about the patient.

Audience Question: This question is more directed at Dr. Britton. Would he see this patient as a narcissistic patient, and would analyzing the defenses so early in the treatment be experienced as an attack by the patient? Would he have the feeling that he was defective, or not doing a good enough job too quickly?

Audience Question: My question is about violence. Throughout yesterday and in the case presentation today there is a lot of talk about aggression, but very little talk about the capacity for violent action.

Audience Question: I have a comment that will lead to a question. I think it is very hard to focus on the questions that the panel was asked to address because this treatment is so new and, as I think Dr. Ellman was suggesting, not a lot of cards are out on the table yet. Not withstanding that, I want to take the plunge, because in a sense this is what I find useful for me when I am in a state where I don't understand very much about what is going on—which is to try to feel out the transference. This is my reaction. It seems to me that this patient is engaging in a sado-masochistic transference-countertransference interaction and enactment with the analyst in which he is tweaking her and playing her and betraying her, just as he has done with all the other women in his life. I am not convinced that this is Oedipal acting out with these women;