ABSTRACT
The inspiration for this chapter is the increasing tendency for analysts, and perhaps particularly candidates, to find cases for analysis from within their own practices. “Converting” to psychoanalysis the psychotherapeutic treatment of a patient whose therapeutic needs are already being served adequately is a procedure that requires our searching reflection. My impression is that insufficient care is being taken, particularly about whether the conversion is warranted. It seems to be taken for granted that the patient will be better off in analysis than in the psychotherapy in which he has been engaged, so that the only matters that warrant our concern are the technical issues of dealing with the transference and countertransference that might arise post-conversion. I deal here with the larger issue, determining whether conversion will serve the patient’s best interests, providing a discussion of the clinical, ethical and legal implications that I believe merit the careful consideration of analysts who contemplate conversion when the inspiration for it derives even partially from the analyst’s needs or preferences.
