ABSTRACT
Although reconstruction is not a major aspect of Merton Gill's—or, surprisingly, even Charles Brenner's—ideas on technique, clearly Heinz Kohut sees reconstruction as an essential aspect of his analytic method. Interestingly, in a recent paper, Dr. Jacob Arlow has noted that there "has been a current revitalization of reconstruction as a concept and technical procedure". This chapter concentrates on Arlow’s paper and uses his formulations to focus our attention on current issues in the use of reconstruction in the psychoanalytic situation. The revitalization of the concept of reconstruction is also related to the therapeutic challenges that occur as a result of analysts beginning to treat patients with borderline and narcissistic disturbances. Arlow's position on the reconstruction of preverbal experiences seems as biased and as prone to the phenomenological error as is the position that he is criticizing.
