ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the kinds of interactions that can occur between patients before they enter the analyst’s consulting room (however brief and sporadic or detailed and sustained they might be) and the usefulness of noting these interactions. Although much has been written in psychoanalytic literature about the analyst’s waiting room, most writing has focused on suggestions about the physical setup and arrangement of the room and its impact on the patient. S. Freud’s writings include two descriptions of his observations about patients who expressed powerful wishes and conflicts through the way in which they negotiated their entry into his office. The patient is one of the great multitude who have a craving for mundane authority, who wish to be dazzled and intimidated. Regarding his own waiting room, Ralph Greenson writes: I prefer to have a waiting room large enough to seat three people comfortably, because sometimes parents will come with a child or a couple with an aging parent.
