The closing phase of the psychoanalytic treatment of adults and the goals of psychoanalysis 'The search for truth about one's self'.
The purpose of this paper is to pose doubts and queries about the nature and objectives regarding our work. I am not contributing specific replies to these questions, but rather some ideas so that we may rethink what we are doing and why we are doing it. In the first place, I state the doubts which I have regarding the classical criteria and goals as being the expression of the essence of psychoanalysis. Perhaps we do not realize that we 'saturate' the development of the psychoanalytic relationship with the aprioristic idea of 'leading' our patients to achieve the therapeutic goals we have already fixed for them from the very beginning. We should question if these 'therapeutic objectives' correspond to what should be our 'psychoanalytic point of view', with its search for the truth about oneself regarding our goals. Psychoanalysis is a science with specific and singular characteristics which should not be confused or, indeed equated with medical science or any other natural science. In the second place, I would like to draw attention to the fact that when considering these criteria, the accent has been almost exclusively put on the personality of the analysand. I believe that it is important to take into account also that which concerns the personality of the analyst with his neurotic and/or psychotic remnant and the role which his counter-transference or his projective counter-identification plays and which can disturb his creative work. But I wish to stress, especially, the importance contained in the analyst-analysand interaction in order to understand better the vicissitudes of all which happens in the closing phase of analysis. The achievement of insight is one of the most important goals of psychoanalysis. The concept of insight is related to that knowledge which stems from the experiences of deep change and mental growth helping the patient to get near to 'being his own truth', with the need to accept the corresponding responsibility. It is important to differentiate this authentic insight, so close to the getting near to the truth, from all other types of intellectual knowledge or 'pseudo-insight' which tend towards the opposite, that is, the avoidance of the truth. Finally, I discuss the disadvantages caused, in my opinion, from bearing in mind too much the idea of 'termination' during the carrying out of our task within the analytic situation in the closing phase of analysis. The predominance of the aprioristic thought that the analysis is 'on the point of' or 'should' end would obstruct the ability to detect what is authentically new in the material and what is most feared by the patient, such as getting closer to the search for truth about himself.
D008192:Deception; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D010551:Personality; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D012649:Self Concept; D014342:Truth Disclosure