Meetings of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, East

DISCUSSION: Dr. M. Robert Gardner pointed out how variably self-analysis is practiced. Each person engaged in the process will search for her or his own method with its own rules. Dr. Frances Bonner questioned the "eureka" experience. Dr. Eifermann responded by noting that recall of a lost detail, or finding the solution of a problem, can come suddenly when one is not immersed in the immediate question. Revelation

of a discovery is an exhibitionistic act. The story of Archimedes captures the fear of showing oneself and being found to be naked, in conflict with the exuberance of wanting to reveal what has been won. Dr. Evelyn Schwaber noted that the reverse could also be true, i.e., one could feel an exaggerated response to minor insights. Dr. Ana-Maria Rizzuto commented on the sense of pleasure and conviction when a "correct" interpretation or reconstruction is offered, whether this is in self-analysis or in regular analytic practice. Freud had referred to the central importance of conviction in his paper, "On Construction in Analysis." Dr. Schwaber said that the data of transference and countertransference are available to the analyst conducting an analysis. All the same, the analyst has a feeling of gratification that is like that experienced in self-analysis.

In a series of questions raised by Dr. Schwaber and by Dr. Morris Stambler, similarities and differences between two-person analysis and self-analysis were explored. Two-person analysis was felt to be more productive and less difficult, with a significant difference in the process of symbolization and verbalization. Dr. Stambler compared self-analysis to child analysis, noting that there was the problem of verbalizing an insight found in play. Similarly, in self-analysis, one has to take insight from the preverbal realm into the verbal to communicate it. Dr. Gardner commented that when self-analysis is practiced in a way that involves becoming flooded, it becomes necessary to make something o