Support in psychoanalysis : Working through fear for facing psychic pain

セイシン　ブンセキ　ニ　オケル　シジ　シンテキ　クツウ　ト　ムキアウ　オソレ　ノ　ナカ　デ

イノウエ, タスク

Inoue, Tasuku

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ キョウイクガクケイ

Department of Education, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

This article discusses how psychoanalysis can support a client. Originally, psychoanalysis aimed to work through a client’s painful emotions identified through contertransference. The client tries to communicate the unacceptable psychic pain to the therapist through projective identification, and the therapist tries to understand and interpret it. Through this interaction, the client is gradually able to accept his/her psychic pain. These days, modern psychoanalytic techniques emphasize that this analytic work develops capability for introspection. Primarily, this process includes confronting anxiety and aspects of painful emotions. Therefore, this work is distressing for both the client and the therapist. To maintain equilibrium, clients try to replace therapeutic interaction with superficial positive relationships. The therapist sometimes colludes with it, and tries to give him/her superficial sense of security as deviation. Clinical research has explored the process of overcoming denial of anxiety and painful emotions. Research has indicated that recognizing the motive for the positive relationships would contribute to reconsidering denied anxiety, instead of excluding it as deviation. This work does not provide direct supportive relationships, but can improve tolerance to any remaining conflict.