Formulation of interpretation. From truth to experience

The task of formulating an interpretation is discussed in terms of seeing it as the analyst's search to make the interpretation relevant to that specific point in the analytic process, in order to make it into something that can be felt by the patient as true and meaningful. Illustrations from the literature from Freud onwards are used to show how this search has been part of the history of psychoanalytic technique, which is still ongoing in order to make our newer understandings into something meaningful and therapeutic for the patient. One area that is particularly emphasised in this paper is the need to include consideration of the patient's relationship with his body as part of the analytic understanding in order for the patient to be able to experience an interpretation as having affective meaning and to create a link to external reality.