The analyst's intent and the analytic process: A note supporting a contextual understanding of the patient's experience of the analytic attitude

Abstract

The relationship between psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalytic practice is highly complicated. In this paper, the author presents case material from the psychoanalysis of a man with social anxiety. In the process, the analyst came to be perceived as a version of a blank screen. At the same time, the analyst noted a discrepancy between the patient's attitude on and off the couch. Further work revealed that this splitting in his attitude had its root in the patient's relationship with his parents during his childhood. It was crucially important that the analyst did not take his perceived blankness as a technical success but that he understood the patient's reaction contextually, taking his past relationships with his parents into consideration. The author then discusses theoretical issues related to the blank screen concept. Finally, the author discusses the importance of understanding the two aspects of analytic theorizing, that is, the prescriptive and descriptive aspects.

Key words:

• psychoanalytic theorizing
• psychoanalytic technique
• blank screen
• analytic content
• analytic context

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Masatoshi Takeda, Chairman and Professor of Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University, for his support and encouragement. I also want to thank Dr. Sandra Buechler, Dr. Mark J. Blechner, and Dr. Donnel B. Stern who kindly read an earlier version of this paper and gave valuable comments on it.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Soh Agatsuma

Author

Soh Agatsuma, MD, is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. He is a member of the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Society and of the American Psychoanalytic Association.