ABSTRACT
One of the most comprehensive, thoughtful, and critical evaluations of the Ferenczi/Severn relationship has been made by Maroda. This criticism is based upon the evaluation of the analysis as a malignant regression caused by Ferenczi's indulgences of Severn's demands for all of her unresolved developmental needs to be met. Ferenczi, Maroda also believed, did not honestly share his countertransference feelings with Severn, which also impeded the therapeutic relationship. These criticisms actually focused on the last years of the analysis when the controversial method of mutual analysis was one of the therapeutic focuses, and Severn was in an emotional turmoil. Ferenczi was also struggling with intense physical and emotional problems. The prior seven years of the analysis were not part of Maroda's evaluation. Kohut had expressed some interest in the issue of gratification and its role in building self-structure. His idea of transmitting internalizations is a form of providing recognition of the analysand's need for fulfilling development needs.
