Introduction

Finding one's ‘voice’ as a psychoanalyst takes a considerable amount of time. It is hoped that what takes place over the years is the development of a particular quality of listening. The latter not only picks up the patient's unconscious communications but also comes from the analyst's own increasing sense of knowing what they are doing, even when not knowing what is going on in the session. They are, then, listening to the patient and to themselves, with a complex interaction between the two sides.