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The “contact functioning” is a critical concept in modern psychoanalytic theory and practice. The center of the concept focuses on an observable fact-the patient directly contacts the analyst. This direct contact provides a unique opportunity to discover, develop and coevolve (Bateson, 1979) 1 the relationship of analysand and analyst as well as the internal relationships of each.
In this essay I am interested in situating the contact functioning in historical and theoretic frames in which it has not usually been viewed in order to highlight and appreciate more of its facets. I would like to bring contact functioning out of its clinical moment so that when it is returned, the clinician might experience more thoughts and feelings about it. My primary focus in this situating enterprise is to place “interpretation” next to contact functioning. Specifically, I review various difficulties analysts have raised with the timing of interpretations. This will illuminate the central importance of following the contact functioning. To begin, we can look at the original formulations.
Spotnitz (1985) speaks of the contact functioning as “occasional verbal attempts to gratify an immediate need for words from the analyst” (p. 154), or as “direct attempts to elicit some personal information about the analyst or to involve the analyst in some emotional problem he (the patient) is unable to express in words” (1963, p. 54).