Negative therapeutic reaction [2]

When Hanna Segal studied depression in the schizophrenic, she showed convincingly that intolerance to depressive pain can set in train a negative therapeutic reaction linked to the patient's experience of progress. The patient regress negative therapeutic reaction (NTR), in such a way that she projects her pain into the analyst and makes her feel very discouraged: "She is mad again", and so forth. This case illustrates that although the negative therapeutic reaction predominates in the serious character neuroses, it is also found in other illnesses. In the diagnosis of the NTR the indicators are important, especially because the nature of NTR is such that it can go unnoticed. When Herbert Rosenfeld takes up Riviere's investigation, he establishes an important specification as to the value of the manic defences of NTR, Riviere conceives mania only as a method of defence, mobilized energetically by the patient to avoid depressive catastrophe, guilt and isolation.