An effect of pharmacotherapy on the psychoanalytic process: case report of a modified analysis

A woman who had appeared suitable for psychoanalysis was persistently unable to develop an analyzable transference. Her history, as it unfolded during analysis, suggested a form of atypical depression linked to a neurochemical abnormality, which appeared to be related to her reluctance to take the emotional risk involved in examining transference phenomena. The analysis was modified by a trial of phenelzine. Changes within the analysis and in the patient's private life after the drug trial ended support the hypothesis that her affective vulnerability had inhibited her ability to engage in analysis of transference before the administration of the drug.