ABSTRACT
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy with couples requires a setting in which they feel held and their therapist is able to think. The setting is primarily the analytic attitude and the couple state of mind of the therapist, but it also refers to the actual physical setting and arrangements in which the therapeutic process takes place. The couple state of mind is reflected in many aspects of the setting—both the physical and psychological setting—and in the practical arrangements. The couple can then rely on something regular that starts and stops at a particular time, no matter what takes place within those times. Maintaining an analytic relationship with a couple can be just as hard as in individual work. It can be difficult to resist, if not an actual social relationship with the couple, then a social type of interaction. Working with a couple requires a different physical setting from individual analytic work.
