The patient's discovery of the psychoanalyst as a new object

Two groups of contributions are reviewed and integrated: those pertaining to non-interpretive elements that support the psychoanalytic process and some seminal papers on the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis. The notions of the psychoanalyst as a transference object and new object are conceptualised and differentiated. It is shown that the corrective analytic experience is related to the objective interpretation of transference distortions, this being the essential step in the process whereby the analyst emerges as a new object. This is contrasted with the discredited corrective emotional experience. Finally, it is suggested that in cases of structural deficit or developmental arrest, unverbalised features, such as the analyst's survival, the atmosphere of safety and tolerance, etc. are themselves implicit transference interpretations and that they are mutative.