ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses couples treatment as a psychoanalytic procedure equal to that of individual psychoanalytic therapy in therapeutic value but having some unique points of emphasis. In particular, the analyst works with two patients at the same time individually and later as a unified psychological matrix. Another element that stands out as unique in couples work is the concept of one party bearing witness to the other party's working through process and what that can mean for the each party's view of self and object. In addition, there are issues in thinking, phantasy, containment, and projective identification. The chapter provides case material to illustrate these points. Most couples enter treatment with the psychoanalyst suffering with various unconscious phantasies within the paranoid-schizoid position. It is often not until later in the treatment that either party can begin to find more of a psychological balance within depressive functioning.
