ABSTRACT
Some time ago I formed the idea that many analysts, in their professional history, retrace the history of psychoanalysis. Ontogeny retracing phylogeny. They begin by acknowledging the patient’s crucial need to understand: I have to understand the patient and help him do the same. So insight, “analysis with the Ego” as Bolognini (1991) would call it, and the role of historical reconstruction are fundamental. Later on, the scales begin to tilt towards other aspects: the patient’s need to feel he’s being understood, and thus the focus shifts to Winnicott’s holding (1960), Bion’s at-one-ment and negative capability (1970), and analysis with the Self (Bolognini, 1991). Of course things aren’t always so clear-cut, and maybe what I’m recounting is just my personal journey, but I think it’s important for new analysts to think about the therapeutic value of the quality of listening.
