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A home for the mind.

Charles Spezzano¹

¹Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, San Francisco, USA. cjspezzano@gmail.com

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

|February 22, 2008

Summary

Patients need a safe mental space within the analyst to tolerate psychoanalytic work. This internal object experience, where the analyst acts with freedom, facilitates therapeutic change and analysis. Case examples illustrate this approach.

Area of Science:

Psychology
Psychoanalysis

Background:

Psychoanalytic therapy requires patients to engage with difficult internal processes.
The therapeutic relationship is central to facilitating change in psychoanalysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a view on the necessity of the analyst's mind as a container for the patient's analytic work.
To explore how the patient's experience of the analyst's mind facilitates therapeutic change.

Main Methods:

Conceptual presentation of the analyst's mind as a 'space' or 'home' for the patient's internal objects.
Illustration through case vignettes from the author's clinical practice.
Referencing case examples from the works of Mitchell and Steiner.

Main Results:

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The patient's ability to tolerate analytic work is enhanced by experiencing the analyst's mind as a safe internal space.
The patient's internal object is related to by the analyst with agency and freedom, fostering analytic progress.
This therapeutic dynamic facilitates analytic work and promotes patient change.

Conclusions:

The analyst's mind serves as a crucial 'internal home' for the patient, enabling the tolerance of psychoanalytic work.
A patient's perception of the analyst's mind as a containing, responsive space is key to achieving therapeutic change.
Clinical examples underscore the importance of the analyst's agency and freedom in facilitating this internal relational experience.