Meeting of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, East

DISCUSSION: Dr. Axel Hoffer asked Dr. Valenstein to elaborate on what he had referred to as the "interpersonalization of the transference." Dr. Valenstein traced the history of the various concepts about how the analyst particpates in the psychoanalytic situation, from Harold Searles and Ronald Laing in our day, back to Franz Alexander and, ultimately, to Ferenczi. In a technical departure from Freud's concepts, Ferenczi would sometimes invite the patient to action—to act out—within the analytic situation in order to promote a breakthrough in a stalemated analysis. Dr. Martin Miller wondered about the component of active aggression in the patient's screen memory, and whether this aspect would have to be included in a reconstruction. Dr. Valenstein responded that, in the transference, the patient tended toward passive, retentive ways of expressing his anger, which did not resonate with a motoric expression of anger as suggested by Dr. Miller. Dr. Sheldon Roth, recalling Freud's view that trauma cannot be integrated unless it is verbalized, asked about the role the capacity to verbalize might play in effective reconstruction. Dr. Valenstein replied that verbalization is only one possible mode of therapeutically effective experiencing and knowing. For this patient, re-enactment and the opportunity to live through his rage was a necessary precondition which had profound effects before verbalization was possible.