Legitimate Gratification of the Analyst's Needs

* Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the New Directions program in Washington, DC and at the spring conference of Chicago Area Psychoanalytic Psychologists. I want to thank Dr. L. David Levi for inspiring me to write on this topic. I also want to thank Dr. Dale Gody, who formally discussed the paper in Chicago, and Drs. Carol Fahy and Bill Cornell, for their valuable editorial suggestions.

Abstract

Perhaps no topic is more controversial than that of the analyst's needs being met in the course of treating the patient. Prior emphasis has been placed on satisfaction derived from the patient's progress, with frequent warnings regarding the analyst's inappropriate pursuit of her narcissistic needs. The author readily acknowledges that all manner of inappropriate gratification does exist and harms both analyst and patient. Yet the major thesis presented in this paper states that mutuality is a driving principle in all human relationships. If this is true, then anything that is essentially harmful to the patient is also harmful to the analyst. But it also means that if the analytic relationship facilitates self-discovery and therapeutic transformation of the patient, while providing a sustaining level of affirmation, safety, and well being, similar benefits will occur for the analyst.

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Notes on contributors

Karen J. Maroda

Karen J. Maroda, Ph.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin.