ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a phenomenon that presents itself at first sight in the analytic practice as a particular and subtle way of breaching the fundamental rule. Even though the analysands have accepted the basic commitment of sincerity at the onset of their analysis, they can only keep the fundamental rule partially. Since the fundamental rule cannot be totally observed, there is an inclination to do away with it completely and not to give the least importance to the analysand’s sincerity or lack thereof. Bad faith appears in what the patient recounts of his life in various ways. Bad faith constitutes an identity disorder that may be mixed with schizoid and hysterical elements. Bad faith and its corollary, omnipotence, produce the dehumanization of both analyst and patient: the analyst is turned into an inanimate object, and the analysand is only omnipotent thought. Omnipotence engenders a lack of communication.
