Forgiveness – It Depends: A Discussion of “An Analyst Has a Birthday - Can Forgiveness Heal?”

Abstract

Diane Barclay’s article (this issue) is a clear example of rich and productive clinical work and how in some contexts, both patient and analyst can benefit personally from the inherently intersubjective nature of psychoanalytic practice. Both analyst and patient spent years struggling to forgive mothers who were very deficient and who bore considerable resemblance to one another. Ultimately forgiving their respective mothers proved very helpful to both analytic partners, though I argue in my discussion that we cannot conclude that forgiveness per se, ought to be a universal value or aim.

Notes

¹ The question of self-disclosure of analysts’ affective experience is a major controversial subjective in and of itself and discussion of this would divert Barclay’s and my own focus.

² Readers, please try to forgive my raising this most profound matter and allocating to this, one ridiculously brief paragraph, tacked on to the end of my discussion. I believe that I am aware how superficial and inadequate these comments are and as well, can only imagine the vast unread and uncited literature on this very subject. I offer my brief comments in the spirit of, perhaps, stimulating far more meaningful psychoanalytic dialogue about the subject of forgiveness in this context.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Irwin Hirsch

Irwin Hirsch, Ph.D., supervises and/or teaches at The Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis; The William Alanson White Institute; The NYU Postdoctoral Program and the National Training Program, NIP. He has published many psychoanalytic journal articles and book chapters as well as authoring or coauthoring five books.