You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
A patient should be comfortable throughout the analysis. The analyst should strive to make the experience one in which it is a pleasure to come and say everything.
Discomfort serves as a resistance when it interferes with progressive communication. The patient who can say “I am comfortable” is in the best possible position to freely express his thoughts, memories and feelings. In its simplest definition, discomfort describes a state of physical or mental uneasiness, while comfort can be described as a state of contented well-being. The analyst has the responsibility for facilitating a comfortable environment for himself and for his patient. The degree to which discomfort on the part of the patient and/or the analyst serves to hinder this accomplishment is highlighted in this paper. This is an issue that does not appear to have been addressed directly either by Freud or contemporary psychoanalysts.
Freud (1913) made reference to what he called ceremonial observance regarding the position in which the treatment is carried out. “I hold on to the plan of getting the patient to lie on a sofa while I sit behind him out of his sight” (p. 133). He then goes on to give his reasons, both historical and personal. What clearly can be understood