Stilted listening: psychoanalysis as discourse

The search for repressed memories and a one-sided emphasis on the analysis of transference together may serve to overrride the essential task of psychoanalytic technique, which is to demonstrate to the patient how his or her mind works and how more adaptive compromise formations may be achieved. Psychoanalysis is, after all, a mode of therapy depending upon discourse, the exchange of information, and mutual influence through the process of conversation. By being sensitive to the manner in which meaning and affect in relationships are transmitted during conversation, the analyst may more easily apprehend the nature of the patient's conflicts, defenses, and transference.