ABSTRACT
In order to examine what the experience of infant observation might contribute to the equipment of a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, it is necessary first to examine which capacities and skills are considered to be relevant for a therapist. Some skills are readily understandable applications of capacities, whereas others are not. This chapter concentrates on capacities and notes the technique that arises directly out of them. The strains of analytic work call for stamina and resilience, and therapists need to have an awareness of their own limitations. There is the question of whether a collection of capacities can be considered separately from the personality of the therapist. For some time, especially because of the emphasis on analytic neutrality and analytic anonymity, there was an idea that an analysis would somehow be the same—that is, have the same result—regardless of who the analyst was.
