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Monitoring the analytic surface
D P Spence1, L C Mayes, H Dahl
1Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
|January 1, 1994
Summary
Analysts can improve patient listening by tracking shared pronoun use, like "you" and "me." This pattern recognition helps determine optimal intervention timing, enhancing therapeutic responsiveness.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Psychoanalytic theory
- Clinical psychology
Background:
- Understanding the nuances of therapeutic dialogue is crucial for effective psychoanalysis.
- Identifying subtle linguistic markers can offer insights into the patient-analyst dynamic.
Observation:
- Analysis of a patient's (Mrs. C.) speech patterns revealed significant clustering of shared pronouns (e.g., you/me).
- This pronoun usage appeared to be a preconscious indicator for the analyst, influencing intervention timing.
Findings:
- The analyst's sensitivity to these pronoun patterns increased throughout the treatment duration.
- In later sessions, interventions were consistently contingent upon the patient's specific pronoun-related utterances, indicating heightened responsiveness.
Implications:
- Shared pronoun clusters may serve as a key indicator of the analytic surface, guiding therapeutic interventions.
- Developing analyst sensitivity to these linguistic patterns can enhance the efficacy and responsiveness of psychoanalytic treatment.