ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the contributions of Argentine psychoanalysts to the understanding of the analysand–analyst relationship both in the traditional setting of individual analysis and in family, couple, and group analysis. Gradually, the concept of the frame was defined; that is, a space-time framework was established in order to regulate what is and is not permitted in a relationship that evolves slowly over time and strongly engages the members of the link. Challenges posed to the definition of frame led either to attempts to render it invulnerable or to changes that responded to the demands of social life. The deconstruction of the notion of the frame led to the adoption of the concept of device, which incorporates the social field and takes into account the multiple elements at play in the analytic relationship. The notion of link, however, was gradually introduced into psychoanalytic vocabulary.
