Ego-Oriented Resistance-Analysis

In the course of the development of psychoanalysis as a theory and therapeutic technique, various aspects of the personality structure were in the foreground of interest. First the id, then the superego, and recently the ego has become the center of attention, both from a theoretical as well as technical standpoint.

To “strengthen the ego” of the patient has become a paramount task and a major concern of every psychotherapeutic endeavor. The concept of “ego strength” (4) is the subject of manifold efforts at formulation. Various factors contributing to the development and fate of the ego are subjects of extensive research and speculation.

Elsewhere, various therapeutic techniques were recommended for the purpose of strengthening the ego. These are among others: the fostering of an anaclitic type of transference relationship (3), supportive environmental manipulations (3), certain drugs, sparing the patient of interpersonal and other forms of stress (3), strengthening of the defenses, spacing of interviews (1), planned interruptions of treatment (2), focusing on reality factors (3), providing channels of sublimation (8, 3), encouraging identification with the therapist, emphasizing the positive elements in the patient's resources (3), and so on.

Ego-oriented resistance analysis is a technique which strives to strengthen the ego by focusing upon the task of making the unconscious part of the ego conscious. The objective being an increased awareness of the “self”, and making the ego autonomous. This technique is particularly well suited in those cases where contact with the patient is limited to one or two sessions weekly and where the development of a full-blown transference neurosis is not desirable.

In this technique psychodynamics are studied from the standpoint of the reactions of the unconscious ego. Interpretations are phrased in terms of the ego's efforts at coping with instinctual demands and superego forces as represented by internal or external authorities.

The t