Developing the capacity for clinical investigation

This chapter presents and discusses the objectives, assumptions, and methodology of the Working Party Microscopy of the Analytic Session and its function of developing the capacity for clinical investigation. Through the report of the work that is done on the material of an analysis session, the complexity of the paths that are built by the group is illustrated. At the same time, the participants develop their capacity to observe, to ‘dream’, and to think about the clinical facts that reveal in the analytical field and have repercussions on the group field. During the work, the group seeks interventions and interpretations that could be applied to the facts that are experienced. These interpretations undergo a process of validation resulting from the continuing study of the session material and the analyst’s interventions, while the work done by the group is considered. Then the group thinks about the implicit theories that determined the choices of interventions and the ways in which they were used by the group. The text ends with a discussion about the evaluation that the participants make of the work done by the working party.