What’s So Great About Authenticity Anyway? The Therapeutic Function of an Analyst’s Lie

Abstract

How can we understand moments when the analyst lies to her patient? When it’s not the patient’s lying at issue but the analyst’s?  When we suddenly find ourselves being deliberately disingenuous in the analytic hour? When our commitment to authenticity conflicts with the patient's need to create and sustain certain fantasies about us?  Psychoanalytic literature typically focuses on the dynamics of the patient’s lie but rarely is the analyst's authenticity questioned.  Are there times when the analyst might choose to lie in order to preserve herself, as well as, the relational bond? The complexity of this “choice” is explored and the erosion of an analyst’s authenticity unpacked during the final days of a difficult treatment.

Notes

¹ Because of the sensitive nature of this material, great efforts have been taken to ensure strict patient confidentiality. Disguise of dialogue, patient history, and sequence of events have been rendered unidentifiable.

² Hijab—a veil traditionally worn by some Muslim women in the presence of male adults outside their immediate family.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle Shubin

Michelle Shubin, LCSW, BCD, is on faculty at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center. She both teaches and supervises training candidates as well as consults privately. She has worked extensively with individuals, couples, and families who have suffered from multiple traumas and addictive disorders. She maintains a private practice in both Manhattan, New York, and Maplewood, New Jersey.