ABSTRACT

There is more variability in dealing with the initial contacts with a prospective patient than with any other aspect of psychoanalysis. This is due to several interrelated factors, most importantly that people are dealing with a meeting of strangers, and there are special stresses for both patient and analyst in meeting new and essentially unknown people. It might seem strange to begin a book on technique with a subject that appears at first glance trivial or banal. Analysts who work in a hospital or university setting usually have to put up with much less comfort and efficiency than do therapists in private practice, and this does not usually cause insuperable difficulties. Selecting patients for psychoanalysis is beset with many problems arising from a variety of sources. Part of the confusion is based on the uneven development of psychoanalytic theory and technique.