ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that the ultimate criterion is a pattern combining many factors each of which may have quantitative variations and each of which has a 'point of irreversibility'. In an analysis two parties have to be satisfied, the patient and the therapist. The patient is often satisfied too early with the results obtained in the procedure, while the therapist has his own and less subjective criteria. The week-end and holiday interruptions of the work forced up transference phantasies; as the work continued these changed in character in correspondence with the internal pattern of forces and object relations within the patient. The clinician is a person who has to match the pattern of 'the patient as a whole' against the pattern of normality which might be described in terms of self-adjusting equilibria. It is further suggested that the criteria for terminating should be considered in relation to the criteria for beginning the particular treatment of the particular patient.