From Repetition to Renewal: Fear and Longing in the Psychoanalytic Relationship

Abstract

There comes a point for some patients in psychoanalytic therapy when they experience the treatment as a threat. Often this occurs early on when the vulnerability so necessary to the process feels dangerous to them. Rather than risk a relationship with the analyst, they demur, disengage, and assume a “resistant” stance. The analyst may be disoriented, frustrated, and perhaps even despairing. A protracted impasse may result. This article explores this form of cotransference that is characterized by the interaction of the patient’s and the analyst’s fears of failure and longings for success. With the aid of a dramatic case illustration, the authors show how these reciprocally interacting needs and dreads contribute to the development of treatment impasses as well as opportunities for effective interpretation and therapeutic change.

Keywords:

• impasse
• intersubjectivity
• leading edge
• renewal
• repetition
• trailing edge

Additional information

Notes on contributors

George Hagman

George Hagman, L.C.S.W., is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut. He is on the faculty of the Training and Research Institute for Intersubjective Self Psychology, and the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is also the author of many published papers and several books.

Susanne Weil

Susanne M. Weil, L.C.S.W., is a psychoanalyst practicing in Stamford, Connecticut. She received her certificate in psychoanalysis from the Training and Research Institute for Self Psychology (TRISP) in New York City. In addition to teaching and supervising, she is active in community work that includes serving on the bioethics committee of a local hospital and consulting on leadership initiatives to nonprofit organizations.