The beneficial aspects of the patient-analyst match

Attempts to define the central factors contributing to psychological change from psychoanalytic treatment have occurred throughout the history of psychoanalysis. Insight from interpretations and clarifications and the affective relationship to the analyst are agreed to be the crucial elements in analytic work as they play out in the transference and resistance. Each patient and analyst pair, however, has its own unique interaction. Even though patients potentially may have successful analyses with many different analysts, the experience of each patient-analyst dyad has its own non-replicable characteristics. The interdigitation of the particular characteristics of the analyst and the patient may be therapeutically beneficial and may determine the depth and range of work in any specific area. An illustration is offered where the positive impact of an interaction came from subtle, often non-verbal aspects of a particular patient-analyst pair. The author's thesis is that, in addition to the analyst's technical and empathic skill, the subtle aspects of character and conflict of both patient and analyst and their interplay constitutes a central therapeutic factor in analytic work.