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.
Sonnenberg
S M
SM
Washington Program, Training Institute of the New York Freudian Society.
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