The Analyst's Experience in the Psychoanalytic Situation: A Continuum Between Objective and Subjective Reality

Traditionally, when we have described strong feelings in psychoanalysis or psychoanalytically oriented therapy, our reference has been to the patient's capacity to experience these emotions in relation to the analyst. In contrast, the more recent psychoanalytic literature (Schlesinger, 1981; Tyson, 1986; Skolnikoff, in press) has begun to focus on the complexities of the analyst's emotional experience with the patient. In the present paper, I offer an outline for a continuum between objective and subjective reality in the analyst's perception of the patient. Through clinical example, I will attempt to illustrate the complexity of the analyst's emotional reactions, their influence on and reflection of the analyst's (often unconscious) perception of the patient, and the therapeutic value of carefully studying these reactions.

If we begin with the assumption that the analyst is as much an emotional participant in the analytic process as is the patient, then the concept of psychic reality applies to the analyst's thoughts and behavior as well as to those of the patient. Our recognition of this expanded field will have consequences for our clinical theory and for analytic technique. For instance, we may no longer hold to a