Abstract

 
 
 Free association is the fundamental rule of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. It is through the patient's associations that a glimpse can be had of what has been repressed. But, at least with some patients, this is easier said than done. There appears to be a conundrum in force: the inhibitions which caused the patient's desire to become repressed are precisely those which inhibit "the irruption of copious ideas".
 Freud said: "In my opinion the physician has taken upon himself duties not only towards the individual patient but towards science as well" (1905(1901): 8). In its own way this article is both a clinical and a theoretical matter. It considers free association as a therapeutic problem, giving a case to illustrate grappling with the patient's inability to free associate. The article also speculates on free association as an intellectual puzzle, and proposes a model which encompasses both empty and full speech.
 
 
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