Language, transference, and the developmental context in child analysis

The meaning of silence and its effect on the transferential relationship in child analysis are examined through the analysis of a ten-year-old boy. Silence is treated as a multiply determined symptom whose origins can be found in the early parent-child relationship but whose meaning is reworked and intertwined with wishes, both libidinal and aggressive in nature, that are aroused during later developmental phases. Silence is conceptualized as a powerful linguistic communication, for once sound is united with meaning, there can be no blank silence. Although silence also serves to defend against the expression of forbidden wishes, it cannot be treated purely as resistance; it is a defining boundary of the arena in which the patient has to be engaged in order for the analysis to proceed. The question of whether the patient needs to speak for the work of interpretation to be mutative is also addressed.