ABSTRACT
This chapter recognizes the great variety of possible interventions and interpretations novice analysts are facing when trying to advance the analytic process. Morgenthaler, attempting to orient young analysts and help them prioritize, emphasizes that rather than following a straight path, the analyst figures out when and how to intervene through a “summation effect,” which is a process of associations, impulses, and impressions that accumulate in the analyst’s mind in such a way as to steer attention in a specific direction. When trying to gain a better understanding of the analytic relationship that develops, this chapter contends, the greatest priority, in conjunction with paying attention to the sequentiality of associations and engaging in the volatile dynamic inherent in waiting, is the actualization of the transference-conflict. Having established this as being of utmost significance from a technical point of view, the chapter advances to discuss how the transference-conflict can be re-activated. Importantly, Morgenthaler emphasizes, this can only be achieved when the modalities of cathexis are oriented in the same direction, a condition which is the analyst’s responsibility as it is s/he who must adjust to the analysand rather than the other way around.
