ABSTRACT
The satisfaction of being able to have a shared experience of profound understanding arrived at after hard painful work by patient and analyst is deeply satisfying. This satisfying experience carried with it a deep sense of conviction to patient and analyst/therapist, and the author found that it would often lead to permanent change, usually slowly, but sometimes surprisingly quickly. The Depression Study in the Adult Department at the Tavistock Clinic was led by another psychoanalyst, Professor Phil Richardson. Although the author found some of the discussions very uncomfortable, especially issues such as randomization of patients, he/she did see that even manualized psychoanalytic work, when done by experienced psychotherapists, did seem to pass the test for the author of work that had depth and resonance. This could begin to give people the evidence that people need to show that their work is effective.
