ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the work of interpretation belongs in this category of 'work'. In the literature, found that 'the work of interpretation' usually refers to the conscious work the analyst does when making an interpretation, and sometimes to the effect of the interpretation on the patient. Freud refers to the work of interpretation in relation to the interpretation of dreams to describe the unravelling of the dream thoughts which proceed as the reverse of the dream-work, suggesting a conscious, ego-orientated process. In recent years people have become very adept at describing the analyst's unconscious collusions and enactments and have found these to give invaluable clues to the patient's internal world and defensive modes when the analyst looks at what happened after the event. The chapter considers that the interpretations thought but not made by the analyst, as well as the analyst's psychic work outside of the session, are part of the setting.
