2.2 Resistance: The Clinical Appearance of Resistance

Before we can analyze a resistance we have to be able to recognize it. I therefore propose at this point to describe briefly some of the most typical manifestations of resistance which appear during the course of analysis. The examples that I shall cite are simple and obvious for the purpose of being clearly informative for instructing beginners. It should be remembered that resistances occur in a variety of subtle and complex ways, in combinations or in mixed forms, and the single, isolated examples are not the rule. It is also to be stressed that all kinds of behavior can serve a resistance function. The fact that a patient's material may clearly reveal unconscious content, instinctual impulses, or repressed memories does not preclude the possibility that an important resistance may be at work at the same time. For example, a patient may vividly describe some aggressive activity during the course of an hour in

order to ward off recounting an experience which might reveal that he was facing a sexual temptation. There is no activity which cannot be misused for purposes of resistance. Furthermore, all behavior has both impulse and defense aspects (Fenichel, 1941, p. 57). However, the clinical examples which follow will be limited to the simple, typical, and most obvious manifestations of resistance.

This is the most transparent and frequent form of resistance met with in psychoanalytic practice. Generally, it means that the patient is either consciously or unconsciously unwilling to communicate his thoughts or feelings to the analyst. The patient may be aware of his unwillingness, or he may perceive only that there seems to be nothing on his mind. In either case our task is to analyze the reasons for the silence. We want to uncover the motives for the opposition to the analytic procedure of free association and we would say something like: “What might be making you run away from the analysis at this time?” Or we would pursue the feeling of