ABSTRACT
When reflecting in general on how their lives had been affected by the analyses, the patients described significant and quite varied experiences. Patients trapped in self-harming behaviours, and fighting for survival, cannot easily be treated with symptomatic relief and quick fixes. They require the understanding and working through of pervasive and self-destructive forces in a treatment modality such as psychoanalysis, where the clinician is trained in the exploration of unconscious influences on thoughts and behaviour. Lucy said she needed someone “much, much more skilled” in order to contain her outbursts as a “terrible mother and dreadful child”, which she admitted she transferred to the person of the analyst. Aspects of the analyst’s personality have figured prominently around what has been significant for a successful or prematurely terminated analysis. Patients have thoughtfully considered the positive attributes brought to the relationship by their analysts and recommended for the facilitation of satisfactory analyses.
