ABSTRACT
According to the analyst, the tone of the treatment shifted dramatically during the first two years of the analysis. The initial transference, one of non-engagement and affective withdrawal, developed into a sadomasochistic transference and then into one that was explicitly erotic. At the end of the second year of the analysis, the analyst introduced to the patient the idea of tape recording. For the analyst, the scan can be a time for reflection, even emotional discharge, when the dynamics of both patient and analyst are active and linger on. Referential activity reflects the patient's ability to capture through language, nonverbal images, in a manner that can be apprehended by others, images that are specific, evocative, and even provocative. If distorted or deleted, an impasse, if not rupture, in the analyst-patient relationship is suggested, and such findings become a challenge to the proposition that symbolization in the patient reverberates in the mind of the analyst.
