Pushing the Psychoanalytic Envelope: an Introduction to Eisenstein's and Rebillot's “Midrash and Mutuality in the Treatment of Trauma: a Joint Account”

I approach the task of writing this introduction to Eisenstein's and Rebillot's “Midrash and Mutuality in the Treatment of Trauma: A Joint Approach” with a mixture of enthusiasm and dread. My enthusiasm stems from my respect for the clinical work these two have achieved together; my agreement with the analytic values and sensibilities expressed in this article; my support of these authors, and others, when they push the psychoanalytic envelope; and my respect for their courage to share with us their personal lives and analytic creativity.

My dread is a concern that I will not do this work justice. I am reminded, as I stand on the precipice of this introduction, of Freud's letter to Jung when he (Freud) was preparing his first presentation of the Rat Man material to the International Psychoanalytic Association. Freud wrote, “It's very hard for me, almost surpasses my art of presentation …. How botched our reproductions are. How miserably we pick apart these great artworks of psychic nature” (cited in Gay, 1988, p. 264). Eisenstein and Rebillot's article, I assert, represents a “great artwork of psychic nature.”