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Review Essay: Conflict: See Under Dissociation

  • Philip Ringstrom tackles a neglected but important topic – therapeutic improvisation. In my view, this is better termed spontaneity. A central issue is the therapist's freedom of mind, which, in the typical case, is restricted by the transferential – countertransferential field. I argue that the value of spontaneity, on the part of both partners, lies in its contribution to a growing >aliveness< in an individual previously >dead.< In this commentary, three forms of spontaneity are distinguished: The therapist, immersed in the patient's experience, is able to resonate with and amplify a moment of vitality in the patient's expression in pseudospontaneity, the therapist believes he or she is responding spontaneously but is acting under the influence of the transferential – countertranferential field and there is a spontaneity in the therapist's >leap to freedom< from the constriction of this field. In that this expression is genuine, and new to the patient, it may have benefit in the manner of a >corrective emotional experience.< The example of therapeutic spontaneity that is given suggests that, ideally, all therapeutic language is, in a nonsalient way, spontaneous – fresh and unscripted. In this example, the therapist's form of responsiveness leads to the emergence of a larger, reflective form of consciousness in the patient – a state toward which the therapeutic endeavor is directed.

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Metadaten
Author:Russell Meares
Parent Title (English):Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 755-769.
Document Type:Reviews
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2001
Release Date:2017/11/20
Format:xerox upon request / Fotokopie auf Anfrage
IdNo:Meares_R_2001
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Reviews / Rezensionen
Licence (German):
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