ABSTRACT
In his concluding remarks Peter Fonagy discussed three main themes which he derived from the analysis of these patients: the issue of separation and separateness; the emphasis on the body, which accompanies an absence of mentalisation and is rooted in these patients’ experiences with their primary objects; and finally the common features of the analytic processes in which acting-out behaviour is consistently present. Peter Fonagy highlights the fact that in each case the analyst emphasised the importance of keeping contact with the patient’s anxieties. There was also enormous pressure on the analysts to monitor their counter-transference in order to be able to reach in their own mind formulations about their patients’ mental states. This was especially important in the cases of the three female analysts analysing three violent male patients, where the possibility of violence in the consulting room was constantly present.
