The analyst's self-analysis and its impact on clinical work: a comment on the sources and importance of personal insights.
In reviewing descriptions of self-analysis in the literature, as part of an ongoing inquiry into the nature and role of self-analysis in the life and work of the psychoanalyst, the author noted a focus on circumscribed self-analytic work, or on a method for self-analysis that did not stress its clinical relevance. Missing were descriptions of the encompassing, multi-sourced, multimotivated, interminable nature of self-analysis in the analyst's work life and personal life. In response to those findings, the author focuses on the conduct of his self-analysis over a period of several months, following an illness experienced by his mother. He attempts to convey certain qualities of his self-analysis: it goes on all the time, it is variously fueled by experiences in and outside his consulting room, and it is practiced self-consciously and with self-discipline. He also describes the ways in which his self-analysis enhances his clinical effectiveness and promotes his personal growth, and notes that all of an analyst's experiences are interconnected opportunities for personal and professional development.
Washington Program, Training Institute of the New York Freudian Society.
S M
SM
Sonnenberg
D003379:Countertransference; D004532:Ego; D005201:Fantasy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011572:Psychoanalysis; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D014167:Transference, Psychology; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology