Creating a Psychoanalytic Mind: A psychoanalytic method and theory

201 Pages·2013·1.3 MB·English

by  Fred Busch

CREATING A PSYCHOANALYTIC MIND
Bringing a fresh contemporary Freudian view to a number of current issues in
psychoanalysis, this book is about a psychoanalytic method that has been evolved
by Fred Busch over the past 40 years called Creating a Psychoanalytic Mind. It is
based on the essential curative process basic to most psychoanalytic theories – the
need for a shift in the patient’s relationship with their own mind. Busch shows that
with the development of a psychoanalytic mind the patient can acquire the
capacity to shift the inevitability of action to the possibility of refl ection. Creating
a Psychoanalytic Mind is derived from an increasing clarifi cation of how the mind
works that has led to certain paradigm changes in the psychoanalytic method.
While the methods of understanding the human condition have evolved since
Freud, the means of bringing this understanding to patients in a way that is
meaningful have not always followed. Throughout, Fred Busch illustrates that
while the analyst’s expertise is crucial to the process, the analyst’s stance, rather
than mainly being an expert in the content of the patient’s mind, is primarily one
of helping the patient to fi nd his own mind.
Creating a Psychoanalytic Mind will appeal to psychoanalysts and psycho-
therapists interested in learning a theory and technique where psychoanalytic
meaning and meaningfulness are integrated. It will enable professionals to work
differently and more successfully with their patients.
Fred Busch is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the PINE Psycho-
analytic Center, a Geographical Supervising Analyst of the Minnesota
Psychoanalytic Institute, a member of the Faculty of the Boston Psycho-
analytical Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis, and a
member of IPTAR. He has published over sixty psychoanalytic articles, two
books, and his work has been translated into several languages.
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CREATING A
PSYCHOANALYTIC MIND
A psychoanalytic method and theory
Fred Busch
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2014
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Fred Busch
The right of Fred Busch to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Busch, Fred, 1939–
Creating a psychoanalytic mind : a psychoanalytic method and theory /
Fred Busch.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-415-62904-1 (hbk.) — ISBN 978-0-415-62905-8 (pbk.) —
ISBN 978-1-315-88852-1 (ebk.) 1. Psychoanalysis. I. Title.
RC504.B87 2014
616.89′17—dc23
2013010752
ISBN: 978-0-415-62904-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-62905-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88852-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
For my fi rst reader – CSH
It is told that Isaac Asimov once said, “The most exciting phrase to hear in
science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it),
but ‘Hmm, that’s funny . . .’ ”
CONTENTS
Foreword by Cecilio Paniagua ix
Introduction xv
1 A personal journey 1
PART I
Paradigm shifts 7
2 Psychoanalytic knowledge as a process and a state 9
3 Speaking to the preconscious: its importance in the
analysand’s understanding 20
4 The transformative function of the analyst’s words 34
5 How the unconscious speaks to us 46
6 The workable here and now and the why of there and then 57
PART II
Clinical methods 65
7 Free association 67
8 Why do we ask questions? 78
9 Working through and resistance analysis 88
10 Working within the transference 99
11 Working within the countertransference 115
12 Introduction to a conversation: helping patients begin
psychoanalysis 131
vii
CONTENTS
13 The middle phase 138
14 Termination 147
15 Refl ections and resolution 159
References 169
Index 176
viii
FOREWORD
In a 1963 interview with B. Swerdloff, Heinz Hartmann mused on his Vienna
analytic days. He commented how he and Ernst Kris “were greatly impressed
with Freud, but never thought that it was the end of psychology. We always felt
that one had the right to go ahead and develop his legacy.” Fred Busch’s lifelong
work on psychoanalytic technique is an excellent example of development of
Freud’s legacy.
Busch is an original master in contemporary ego psychology. He is certainly
the most prolifi c modern author of resistance analysis. Since the 1980s, he has
published extensively on theory of technique in the best psychoanalytic journals.
The present book is Busch’s third and, avowedly, the one he took most pains to
write. I would add that it is the most revealing of his evolution as thinker
and clinician. The book has two main sections: Paradigm shifts and Clinical
methods, illustrated with ample and detailed clinical vignettes. I hope that
adherents to a technique grounded on Freudian structural theory, will fi nd the
conclusions of Busch’s intellectual and empirical journey as stimulating and
persuasive as I have.
Busch shows a familiarity with European authors that can be considered
quite unusual for an American analyst, fi nding common ground between his
method of resistance analysis and the techniques of Betty Joseph’s London
Kleinians, and some French authors, particularly André Green. He is also
well acquainted with authors like Bion, Hinshelwood, Fonagy, Ferro, Bolognini,
and the Barangers in their attempts at fi nding reliable accessibility to the
analysand’s unconscious mind.
From old, the experience accumulated by many analysts taught us the practical
lesson that the lifting of neurosogenic repressions was insuffi cient for the
resolution of confl icts, as these continued exerting their primary infl uence on the
formation of character. In Analysis Terminable and Interminable, Freud had
metaphorically remarked that the simple removal by a fi re brigade of the oil lamp
responsible for a blaze was not enough to carry out a good enough job. Busch
comments that the technical shift from the “there and then” method to the “here
and now” approach, necessary for effective character analysis, gained momentum
thanks to the support received from analysts of divergent schools of thought.
ix