ABSTRACT

In this chapter the author aims to illuminate the clinical theories that therapists carry with them into sessions where they operate implicitly, directing their attention to select sorts of data that are then used to fashion an intervention. This, then, is the ultimate lesson of the Clinical Moments Project—to learn how to listen to how therapists listen to the unfolding material. The author talks about analysts ("commentators") of varying theoretical persuasions to weigh in, sharing what they think about the situation and how they imagine they might have proceeded. There are times, in the midst of treatment, when the analyst comes to question the wisdom of the approach he is been taking with a given patient. Progress may be lacking or the therapeutic alliance has turned contentious, leaving the analyst to wonder what it is he might do to rectify matters.