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I agree with much of what Dr. Patrick Zimmerman presented to us in his clear, incisive perspective of Merton Gill's (1995) Psychoanalysis in Transition: A Personal View. In fact, each time I reread Dr. Zimmerman's article I learned more and appreciated it more. There are a few ideas that I elaborated upon here.
My first point is that Gill clarified and elaborated important dichotomies in psychoanalysis in multidimensional ways. Gill explicated the substantive meanings of crucial dichotomies, such as one-person versus two-person psychology, inner versus outer (or internal-external), and conflict versus deficit. He then forcefully and persistently argued for his position. That is, in the clinical situation, both poles are always present. It is a matter of emphasis of which one the analyst focuses on. It is rarely either-or. Gill unabashedly saw the political significance of these emotionally loaded dichotomous words. Gill stated, as Zimmerman reminded us, that conflict and deficit “are really buzzwords to indicate whether one's allegiance is primarily to the effects of unfavorable experience or primarily with the inevitability of conflict, whatever the experience” (p. 32). This parallels the theoretical allegiance to trauma as opposed to the importance of constitution. The former,