The hysteric's use and misuse of observation

In this paper we have examined the hysterical patients' capacity to observe themselves and others and what they make of these observations. On the one hand they distort them or blur them by rapid acting, dramatic exaggeration, a quick shift in identification from one object to another; on the other hand they use some of their perceptions for a fine observation of the analyst's responses in order to involve him (or her) in their particular pathological relationship: dramatic, sensuously exciting, and one that arouses the highest expectations, only to frustrate them subsequently.