Encountering Ehrenberg: Tracing the Development of Psychoanalytic Therapy at the Intimate Edge

Abstract

This article illustrates the thinking-through processes and clinical applications of D.B. Ehrenberg's ideas within the therapeutic situation. During the last four decades, Ehrenberg has articulated that the psychoanalytic relationship is at its most compelling when it evolves at "the intimate edge" of the therapist's self and that of the patient. She invites us to explore and process the relational dynamics of the therapeutic dyad within the consulting room. In tribute to Ehrenberg's work, we reflect on two individuals closed up in their self-reliance, who start to break open to their desires for intimacy when their therapist opens up his own self within the uniquely meaningful space co-created in the analytic therapy.