2022年10月31日月曜日

How do we treat our clients in the relational framework? 1.

 Multiplicity of the therapeutic action

First I would like to state that although I am a fully trained analyst, I do not need to look to traditional psychoanalytic theories to decide what to say and what not to say in the clinical setting. My last supervisor in the United States, Dr. Eric Kulick, clearly stated almost twenty years ago, that there is only one rule in psychoanalysis, which is to be ethical, whatever you do. This statement has been encouraging me and guiding me in my clinical work since that time. However, no matter how this statement sounds clear and simple, it put us in a deep dilemma as analysts: what if for some patients psychoanalysis is not the best choice of treatment?

I consider that this potentially self-damaging attitude as an analyst is still most valuable and most needed in this era of multiplicity, as it means that we are constantly reflecting on ourselves as to whether or not we are using analytic method when needed and not when not needed. As some of my mentors stated, knowing psychoanalysis is to know when not to use it.

One thing which really impresses me recently is that there seems to be a general trend that many psychoanalytic schools have in common these days. The other day, I read a book titled Changing Minds in Therapy written by Margaret Wilkinson, a well-known Jungian psychologist. She is a member of SAP (the Society of Analytical Psychology) of Jung Institute. (There is the Japanese translation of this book by Drs. Takashi Hirose and Norihumi Kishimoto.) What strikes me in this book is that almost any subjects which are frequently discussed in current psychoanalysis, such as trauma, attachment, dissociation etc. are put in the context of recent neuroscience. This trends obviously synchronizes with recent neuro-psychoanalysis and attachment studies informed by various neurobiological research. More and more modern psychoanalysts are interested in (or obliged to take in) views and findings in neuroscience which discloses facts and evidence of their studies.