ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some important components of the psychoanalytic process, which is defined as the free association process, that is, as the outcome of the systematic use of the free association method. It finds it useful to picture the mental elements of psychopathology joined to one another in obligatory condensation, intertwined and inseparable under ordinary circumstances. Free association provides the means for a gradual loosening of the bonds, that is, for analysis in the specific sense of separating out the elements. The chapter illustrates the texture of the free association process and its relationship to the complexity of the patient's neurosis. From the concept of the free association process as a group of parallel component processes it is natural to travel further, towards a theory of therapeutic effects. A discussion of cure, however, beyond a description of the functions and process of free association, lies outside the scope of the chapter.
