Letters in Psychoanalysis and Posttermination Contact

In this essay, ¹ I will discuss Mabel Dodge’s correspondence with her two psychoanalysts, Smith Ely Jelliffe and A. A. Brill, as a way of looking at the relationship between analyst and patient at the time of the early practice of psychoanalysis in the United States. I also consider Dodge’s perceptions and understanding of herself as revealed, and most likely partly developed, in her written exchanges with her analysts, both during and after analysis. To place this correspondence in context, I will look at historical and modern perspectives on extraanalytic and postanalytic contact between analyst and patient, with particular attention to ideas about the value of posttermination contact as a means of maintaining and furthering analytic gains. After presenting information about the archival materials used for this essay, I address the ethical and moral dilemmas of publishing such documents. Following a brief description of the lives of the individuals involved, I then look at Mabel Dodge’s correspondence with Smith Ely Jelliffe and A. A. Brill.