ABSTRACT
One view of psychoanalysis puts an emphasis upon correct procedure and yet there is another that is more open to a process that stems from the patient. In the author's opinion, it is in this latter view that people find the clearest evidence of a patient’s unconscious search for what is needed; and this is sometimes quite other than what the analyst might have expected or may be trying to offer. The birth process has its own dynamic, its own sequence, direction and purpose. Sometimes, of course, the midwife or doctor in attendance has to intervene to deal with problems as they arise. But the supportive role is normally to assist in a process that has its own life and momentum. If analysts do not inhibit their inner responses in the consulting room, patients can draw the analyst into an affective relationship which can do much to reflect, and to throw light upon, the patient’s internal world and object relationships.
