A psychoanalytic teaching exercise

The paper is a detailed account of a teaching exercise designed for first year candidates in a psychoanalytic training program. The material for the classroom exercise is a selected "specimen" session from the author's practice which clearly demonstrates the appearance, the handling and the dynamic significance of the clinical concept of resistance. The teaching method consists of the instructor reading numbered segments of a few lines each from the session in sequence to the students each of whom is responsible for a written response to a numbered segment; the students rotate in sequence in giving their written answers to whether a particular excerpt from the session is a resistance, a transference reaction, a theme or one of the usual technical interventions. The body of the paper consists of the numbered excerpts from the session, a sampling of students responses and comments by the author. It is seen that the students become involved in the unfolding session and have a "hands on" experience of the analytic process. The method of selecting appropriate (to the topic) sessions allows for a wide variety of clinical topics to be taught this way.