The First Interview in Modern Psychoanalysis

Evelyn Liegner was a leading figure in the history of modern psychoanalysis, probably most well known for her book The Hate That Cures . This article became a chapter in that book and is significant to me for both its conceptualization of the evolution of psychoanalysis and its ability to capture an almost “how-to” attitude that I have come to enjoy about much modern analytic writing on technique. Going back to this piece is grounding, not only when I am about to meet a new patient, but also when dealing with long-term patients overstimulated by some shift in treatment. It is one that I recommend for my supervisees, as you don't need a lot of psychoanalytic-literature jargon to glean something from it.

Liegner mentions the way Freud's statements have been reified by certain practitioners, even though there is evidence of Freud often amending and even disregarding his own stated suggestions. I read Liegner as proposing not so much rules as goals and guides for our exploratory questions. She is making suggestions. From her, I infer, “Keep in mind there is always a narcissistic and psychotic core; avoid questions that might be ego injuries; invite the patient to say more, and accept it when they do say more, or show in action what they can't say in words.” She reminds us of Spotnitz's pronouncement that we should avoid blaming the