ABSTRACT
The formal time boundaries in psychoanalysis are normally set and controlled by the analyst, who can be seen as the true "master of time". At this level at least, the analytic relationship follows the pace dictated by the analyst's clock and by his calendar. The timeless quality of the content of analysis is determined by, and in constant interaction with, the formal time arrangements, set by the analyst and altered only under exceptional circumstances. Within safe analytic boundaries the temporal sequence of events becomes to a large extent irrelevant, the chrono/logic of everyday life gives way to a different timeless reality. The author argues that, originally time is not yet organised around a three-dimensional structure, but it is experienced instead as omnipresent. The spatiotemporal components of the analytic setting have for the patient a structuring function similar, in many respects, to the supportive (holding, containing, facilitating) environment provided to the growing child by good-enough parenting.
