ABSTRACT
Psychoanalysts regularly emphasize the interaction of theory and technique. While theoretical formulations in general may be employed more explicitly by some analysts, more implicitly by others, it is not hard to demonstrate that psychoanalysts differ in predilection for particular kinds of theoretical formulation. Initial formulation of clinical events from the viewpoint of the free association method provides a useful articulation with the multi-dimensional propositions of psychoanalytic theory. To make use of the free association method in this way of formulating clinical events, one must be able to state diagnostic assessments in similar terms and to have a corresponding conception of the nature of psychoanalytic treatment. Its therapeutic aim is to increase the patient's freedom of association. This chapter considers the relationship between psychopathology and free association from several directions, in order to clarify the approach which is described.
