The Analyst's Resolution of Revenge Resulting from the Treatment of His Parents

Any analyst will do well to avoid analyzing relatives, friends, or acquaintances. The fact that his own emotions in relation to these persons might disturb his work is, however, only one of the reasons for this rule. Another one is that the transference loses much of its specific character, or at least its demonstrability as a transference, if it does not originate within the analysis itself but has an analytically uncontrolled prehistory.

This statement, reiterating a concern of Freud's, is not a specific prohibition. It serves as a warning against very real difficulties the analyst may encounter when he or she deals with patients who are relatives or personal friends.

I have embarked on a process of treating my parents as analytic patients. What I have learned from their treatment is that an analyst can treat successfully patients of any age, no matter how close the relation. I expect that what I have done with my parents may elicit criticism and many other negative feelings. I believe, however, that it has been a valuable and beneficial experience for everyone involved. Freud (1913) believed that “no analyst would refuse his help to persons for whom no other help is accessible;” on this premise Modern Psychoanalysis was built.