ABSTRACT
The emergence of relational psychoanalysis and intersubjectivity theory has influenced established ideas of the therapist’s position towards the patient. It is generally agreed within psychoanalysis that Sigmund Freud’s idea of the therapist as a “blanc screen” upon which the patient’s psychic material is projected, is outdated. The fact that the therapist’s view of the patient is coloured by “psychological subjectivity” is compatible with an epistemological position, which may be described as “critical realism”. As opposed to “naïve” realism, critical realism takes account of the fact that a subjective element always will be involved in the perception of reality. Where the therapist’s subjectivity is concerned, it may be useful to distinguish between psychological subjectivity and epistemological subjectivism. The question of disclosure versus construction raises the question of what concept of truth one relies on. This is also central to the discussion of what epistemological frame psychoanalysis should situate itself within.
