ABSTRACT
Eva Schmid-Gloor and Jacques Press discuss the classical position of the Paris Psychosomatic School concerning the objectifying character of the investigation. More than the functioning of the preconscious and operatory thinking, the authors pay attention to the narcissistic failures of the patient, who is more or less close to the borderline state, and to the transference countertransference dynamic during the first meetings. The work of the analyst has to associate a kind of objectifying assessment and the sensitivity of the interplay between the patient and the analyst during the session. Authors like Winnicott and Bion offered theoretical ideas which enabled improvements in the modalities of treatment. The fact that today analysis of the analysts are frequently deeper with contact with archaic anxieties permits them the use of the countertransference as a precious tool in the treatment and to consider the possibility of various settings with somatic patients, adjusted to each of theme from face to face to couch.
