ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the problem of the analyst becoming "sleepy" during a psychoanalytic session from both the standpoint of the patient's actions, as well as how this action affects the analyst's mind. Various forms of patient withdrawal are felt to have specific significance in this regard and are delineated in some detail. A number of the concepts of W. R. Bion have been found to be particularly useful in pursuing this work. Bion feels that "non-existence" becomes an object "that is immensely hostile and filled with murderous envy towards the quality or function of existence wherever it is found." It was usually very difficult, even aside from the sleep effect, to glean significant meaning from the patient's talk. In discussing the conditions affecting the analyst's mental state, particularly those experiences affecting consciousness, for example: boredom, disinterest and sleepiness, one immediately thinks of the significance of counter-transference.