ABSTRACT
Here another word about the analytical couch is i n order. The women whom Freud got to speak more or less freely about sex wou ld never have done that i n those days i f they had had to look into his eyes. He had to get them to relax as much as possible whi le they related their free associations wi thout constant feedback from his own facial expressions. Nor d i d he wish to be in a position that required h im to respond continuously. He, too, needed to enter into a special state o f consciousness in w h i c h his awareness was evenly distributed over the stream of talk, a l lowing h im to pick up clues that from the speaker's point of view were peripheral and irrelevant.
