Method, technique, and theory in psychoanalysis

Abstract

The author summarizes parts of two papers that appeared in Italian and were presented at International meetings (Galli, 2006, 2009). The following topics, among others, are discussed: the history of psychoanalytic theory of technique with a critique to some aspects of contemporary psychoanalysis; intersubjectivity; the concept of analytic neutrality; the relationship between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy; technical spontaneity; the identity of psychoanalysis and therapeutic identity; interdisciplinarity and the relationship between psychoanalysis and other disciplines; psychoanalytic training; the concept of “continuous interpretative activity”; self-disclosure in analysis; the relationship between theory and technique in psychoanalysis; psychiatric diagnosis and psychoanalytic diagnosis; the relationship between the person of the analyst and therapeutic technique.