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.
Kantrowitz provides the reader with an array of survey data from her study of analysts of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She explores the question of how analysts perceive personal change triggered by their work with patients. Her report provides us with three levels of data: 1) the survey results of 399 replies (from
1,100 questionnaires); 2) detailed written clinical examples obtained from about 200 analysts; and, 3) open-ended telephone interviews (30-60 minutes) with 26 training analysts. The findings are presented with a thoughtful mixture of theory and data. Facilitating a group of senior analysts to share their self-reflections must be attributed to Kantrowitz's ability to combine an empathic and a scientific approach. Her clinical research sensitivities come through clearly in her writing, in the way she conducted her telephone interviews, and in her own self-reflections. She concludes, early in the book, that even among the more traditional therapists, there is strong evidence for finally acknowledging that analysis is codetermined by patient and therapist. Kantrowitz offers compelling evidence in her research data for the final shedding of the remnants of the “blank screen” model of analysis. The dyadic nature of the analytic process is validated by her interviews. As she summarizes, “Many of the analysts interviewed described a process that involves a reverberation with the patient's and the analyst's issues that takes place during the actual analytic work with the patient. Since each analyst has his or her own specific constellation of characterological and conflictual issues…the content that is reworked varies for each analyst…” (p. 191).
Her survey found that personal changes almost always occurred within the analyst. Only 10% of male analysts and 7% of female analysts answered that change rarely or never occurred from their work. To the question, “What kind of change occurred?” the large majority described “self-reflective explorations.” The