A Psychoanalyst's Story: A Simple Discovery After Years of Searching

Abstract

The author presents an autobiographical sketch of his analysis—two analyses, each of which had major deficiencies, followed by his ongoing self-analysis that has continued to the present. His self-analysis was enriched by his conduct of patients' analyses, his supervision of trainees, and his creative work in psychoanalysis as a writer and editor of this Journal. He discovered in the end that the dominant motivation for his patients and himself is the powerful desire to embrace all of life, which necessitates taking possession of injurious traumas and revealing them in an intimate relationship. He portrays analysis as an everlasting process of development and creativity.

Notes

Melvin Bornstein, M.D., is Editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry; Training and Supervising Analyst, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute; and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University.