A commentary on Freud's paper: "Analysis terminable and interminable"

Abstract

Although Freud's (1937c) paper, "Analysis terminable and interminable" may seem an unlikely paper to write a commentary for the International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy, I have chosen this paper with particular reference to the forthcoming International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy (IAFP) conference entitled, "Gendercide—the gender divide". Although much has been written on this paper, I am going to concentrate on two issues that are relevant to the IAFP conference and which Freud put forward to account for his pessimism regarding the efficacy of psychoanalysis, namely the death instinct and, in particular, the repudiation of femininity. I will also relate the relevance of these features to clinical practice.