28
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

On Infecting the Treatment by Gilbert W. Cole, PhD

Pages 35-37 | Published online: 21 Oct 2008
 

ABSTRACT

The author discusses Gilbert Cole's Infecting the Treatment: The Experience of an HIV-Positive Psychoanalyst. He sees the book as showing something crucial concerning clinical psychoanalysis and the much discussed topics of intersubjectivity and self-disclosure. All therapists have to offer to their patients is their own subjective experience. What the patient wants and needs is a careful, thoughtful and honest account of the therapist's experience of him. This can help the patient draw his own conclusions about himself. The author sees Cole's work as demonstrating the relation between the particular and the universal in psychoanalysis. The specific subject is the situation of the HIV-positive psychoanalyst. Yet, for all its dramatic specialness, being an HIV-positive analyst is not necessarily more special than any individual, idiosyncratic aspect of any analyst's subjectivity is special. What one learns from sharing Cole's experience applies to all therapists.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.