Analyst involvement in the psychoanalytical impasse

This paper develops the idea that a state of impasse is the objective towards which the patient tends and that this is in response to an unconscious fantasy whose essential aim is to paralyse the object's autonomy and the bond. The fact that in some cases this objective is brought about with the unconscious participation of the analyst is pointed out. This unconscious participation is distinguished from the conscious emotions that permit the diagnosis of the impasse. The manifest content of the verbal material reveals typical features of these states. One of them is the lack, or marked diminution, of representations expressed through visual images. When the representations become evident in the verbal material, it is a sign that the impasse is over and that the process has temporarily resumed its course. The process has unconscious representations which, on becoming evident, reveal the state of deadlock or development through which it is passing. The representations of the impasse situation are typical. Some of these, such as objects endowed with circular movement, static bodies lacking mobility, are pointed out. Verbal material is differentiated in two categories depending on its capacity to transmit or to conceal contents belonging to the unconscious. Material devoid of meaning is inherent to resistance. When the analyst is unconsciously involved in the patient's impasse, he tends to favour a kind of dialogue which is lacking in meaning and symbolic value. The symbol-forming function is not affected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)