ABSTRACT
This chapter points out what appears to be a particularly crass misunderstanding regarding ‘activity’ which has become widespread. Freud has always used the word ‘active’ only in the sense that the patient has to carry out tasks occasionally which are different from the mere narration of ideas; it was never intended that the activity of the physician should go beyond that of interpretation and the occasional setting of tasks. The analyst is, therefore, first and last inactive and independent, and may only occasionally encourage the patient to do particular actions. This clearly illustrates the difference between the ‘active’ analyst and the suggestionist. The second and even more important difference is that in suggestion the giving and fulfilling of tasks is everything, while in analysis it is only an aid to the attainment of new material, the interpretation of which is always the chief duty of analysis.
