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.
Despite an abundant bibliography on the theory and technique of termination, the transmission to younger colleagues of analytic experience on this problem is not assured. In France, in order not to prolong an already lengthy training period, supervised analyses are usually not even followed through to termination. In contrast, affiliation to the American Psychoanalytic Association may not take place until the candidate has terminated several supervised cases. Lebovici examines: (1) those analyses which turn out as one had hoped; (2) those which become longer and difficult to terminate, and the reasons for this; and (3) certain clinical and technical aspects which might account for the increase in the length of treatment to the point of rendering an analysis interminable. He then goes on to metapsychological reflections and to a review of the literature, beginning with the proto-history of analysis when treatment lasted only a few weeks. He notes the readiness of Anna Freud, of American psychoanalysis, and of the International Psycho-Analytical Association (which he considers an expression of American analysis) to talk about adaptation to society. French analysts, he feels, are more hesitant to discuss this theme. An honest examination of the bibliography shows, however, that all analysts are preoccupied with the therapeutic value of their treatment at a time when more and more requests for treatment come from those with character neuroses and borderline disorders. Lebovici reviews some of the criteria for termination proposed by such writers as Balint, Bouvet, Nacht, and Rangell. He criticizes authors who suggest that termination is recognized in the patient's acknowledgment of the reality of the analyst. But he also criticizes those who believe that the analyst should no longer be anyone meaningful for the patient. On the contrary, Lebovici feels that the time for termination is indicated when an authentic relationship has developed between patient and