ABSTRACT
As for the energic quality of the primary process, it is important to note that Sigmund Freud also saw affect as having a central configuring influence: Pathways are followed which are ordinarily avoided; in particular, pathways leading to discharge, such as actions performed in the affective state. A well-known self psychology psychoanalyst, Joseph Lichtenberg reviewed the role of what he calls “model scenes” in psychoanalysis and the central role that affect plays in their construction. After grasping the feeling-toned theme and seeing it operate in detail in the precipitating event, the clinician must look carefully as it replays itself over and over again in the productions of psychosis. Although dramatization casts an enchanting spell in the rendition of Amy Mills’ psychosis, the clinician should be reminded of Carl Jung’s famous advice to the author, James Joyce. A prominent Philadelphia psychotherapy researcher, Lester Luborsky, has provided empirical evidence for the existence of transference in psychotherapy.
