Discussion of Ernst A. Ticho's Article, The Effects of the Analyst's Personality on Psychoanalytic Treatment

I am in basic agreement with Dr. Ticho's major point, namely, that personality of the psychoanalyst does play a role in every psychoanalytic treatment. It is significant that this fact is well known but rarely openly discussed in the psychoanalytic literature. The very secretiveness indicates that the psychoanalyst's personality is apt to cause difficulties in the analyst and in the analysis.

It is my contention that in order for the psychoanalyst to make full use of his therapeutic skill, he must not only be aware of his personality but must recognize how his personality traits influence the patient, and, furthermore, he must be willing to discuss these elements as well as analyze them with his patient. I think that analysts who do not believe that the personality plays a role or who believe that the role of the personality is essentially harmful cannot do effective psychoanalytic therapy. The less conscientious a psychoanalyst is about his personality traits and their effects, the less able he is to recognize a key factor in the therapeutic process of his patient.

Personality traits in the analyst and in the patient lead to transference reactions in each as well as to realistic reactions in each. These reactions can be harmful or advantageous depending on whether they are recognized, analyzed, and discussed at the proper time and with optimal openness. I do not agree with Dr. Ticho's differentiation between character and personality in terms of which of them produces countertransference reactions or realistic reactions. Character and personality, no matter how one may define them, are not static but to some degree changeable and variable from patient to patient and from situation to situation. The important point is that one must be aware of these interactions and be willing to analyze and discuss them.

Persistent transference or realistic reactions which interfere or interrupt the progress of the analysis indicate that one should consider a change of analyst. Ve