ABSTRACT
The balance of giving and receiving in social relationships, with each person knowing they can rely on the other when in need, is at least in part what makes a relationship durable and enduring. This principle applies as well, I argue, to the therapeutic relationship, even though mutuality in psychoanalysis involves its own uniquely complicated dynamic of giving and taking. Using an extensive clinical vignette, this chapter explores the ways that learning and growing takes place both for therapist and patient in the course of psychoanalytic work.
