Interaction and transference

The author begins by pointing out that, whereas in classical psychoanalysis the present was seen as an instrument affording access to the past, reconstruction of which would free the patient from the repetition compulsion, nowadays the past is regarded more as a means of throwing light on the present and the emphasis has shifted to the here and now, the unconscious meanings of which are elucidated by the analyst's careful monitoring of his own mental states. In transference analysis in the here and now, what is analysed today, in the current revised conception of the analyst's role, is the interaction between patient and analyst. The author notes that the concept of interaction did not feature in the theory and clinical practice of classical psychoanalysis, according to which the analytic dialogue was supposed to be confined to verbal exchanges. Yet the interactive dimension is of course present in the 'pragmatic' elements of the linguistic communication, whereby patient and analyst influence each other, and can be analysed by constant, spontaneous unconscious-preconscious monitoring of the analytic relationship. Clinical material is presented to illustrate the examination and use of the pragmatic aspects of the patient-analyst interaction. The analyst is shown in the process of analysing the verbal interaction as a background to interpretive activity, which is in this case interpretation of interaction.