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.
DISCUSSION: Dr. Theodore Shapiro stated that the undeclared war between insight and empathy has led to a polarization of views within psychoanalysis. Drs.
Balter and Spencer sought to rectify this in their attempt to understand the analyzing instrument as a composite of empathic and observational stances. Dr. Shapiro suggested, however, that the authors' viewpoint undervalues certain aspects of technical training that determine how we think. For example, a cognitive concept such as vagina dentata in case material is part of our lore and training. It would be hard not to think of it, upon hearing certain data; that is because of our training. However, timing and parameters needed to assure patient conviction are areas of skill that require experience. Dr. Shapiro further felt that in the presentation of Drs. Spencer and Balter, the importance of language to our work was somehow underemphasized as a unifying force between patient and analyst. The analytic situation is an unusual one. It interrupts the usual dialogic rules and places new constraints on patients and analysts that permit new discoveries.