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The intent of the following essay is to examine an aspect of psychoanalytic technique that has not been explored systematically. This dimension of the analytic art operates quietly and usually unconsciously in the analyst: The issue of the effect of the tone and manner in which interpretations are made, and whether the patient consequently experiences them as maternal or paternal communications. My thesis is that, in the course of their interpretive work, analysts subtly convey two complementary messages that are essential to a therapeutic outcome. They indicate their devotion to the patient's welfare, and they embody an attitude of integrity. Their devotedness is experienced by their patients as a soothing kind of maternal joining, while their integrity is experienced as a stimulating kind of paternal separateness.
The phrasing of interpretations determines to a great extent whether the analyst is taken in as a motherly or fatherly presence. The maternal-paternal polarity I am trying to elucidate does not lend itself easily to characterization as Freudian or revisionist, classical or deviationist, disciplined or “wild” analysis; the discriminating features include emphasis, mood, and tone. In the following pages, I shall explain the bases for my ideas, explore some of their ramifications, relate them to certain controversies in the literature on technique, and make suggestions about circumstances in treatment that might make one or the other style of therapeutic engagement advisable.