From Resistance to Analytic Truth

Abstract

“Resistance” in psychoanalysis from its inception has meant the patient’s opposition to and interference with the analytic process that must be followed to resolve the patient’s neurosis. This concept of “resistance” implies the analyst possesses an objective truth about the patient and the therapeutic action of the process. Without that assumption, the concept itself is meaningless. It is argued that the concept of objective truth is inapplicable to any study of the human process, such as psychoanalysis, so resistance is not a defensible concept for the field. However, the commonly proposed alternative, relativism, leads to solipsism and therefore is also not a viable epistemology for psychoanalytic investigation. The concept of analytic truth is proposed as a third way that avoids the pitfalls of both objectivism and relativism. It is argued that when the patient opposes what the analyst regards as a self evident truth, an especially difficult type of enactment is occurring. The clinical approach to extricating the analytic pair from the strangulated enactment of clashing viewpoints is illustrated with the case of a young man who “never got angry.”

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Notes on contributors

Frank Summers

Frank Summers, Ph.D., ABPP, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; Supervising and Training Analyst, Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis; and a Faculty Member of the Portuguese Psychoanalytic Society, among others. He has won several awards including the Distinguished Educator Award of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Education and the Hans Strupp Award for contributions to the theory, practice, and teaching of psychoanalysis. Associate editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Dr. Summers has published more than 60 book chapters and professional papers and authored four books, including The Psychoanalytic Vision, winner of the Gradiva Award for the best psychoanalytic book of 2013. He maintains a private practice of psychoanalytic therapy and psychoanalysis in Chicago, Illinois.