ABSTRACT
As has already been emphasized (pp. 41 and 179 above), this whole research can be regarded as a natural experiment on the interaction between a population of patients on the one hand, and a number of psycho-analysts working in a group on the other, in which the latter's training, way of working, and interrelations almost certainly played a major part. This interaction is highly relevant to many aspects of our work—for instance, it was shown on p. 179 above to have had an all-important effect upon the characteristics of the patients under study; and on p. 274 below it will form an important step in the interpretation of some of the evidence and in drawing the whole work together. For present purposes this point of view will be used to shed light not only on the characteristics of these therapies, but also on some of the problems which are raised by the history of psycho-analysis and which have already been considered in Chapter 2.
