title: The therapeutic effects of the free-associative state of consciousness.
abstract: Free association is therapeutically helpful in the regulation of states of consciousness. A person who free-associates enters a particular state of consciousness characterized by increased subjective self-awareness and disregard for reality, together with implicit pulls for objective self-awareness and reality adherence. Free association facilitates the patient's learning to integrate and to shift flexibly among points on these dimensions. Tensions existing in the free-associative state are embedded in a similar tension between free associating and reacting to the analyst's interventions, so interplay between free association and intervention also facilitates regulation of states of consciousness.
authors.affiliation: rosegrantj@earthlink.net
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosegrant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001244:Association; D003243:Consciousness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation