Free association : method and process

151 Pages·1996·3.584 MB·English

by  Kris, Anton O.

ANTON O. KRIS

Free Association
FREE ASSOCIATION

MARESFIELD LIBRARY

F R EE ASSOCIATION

Method and Process

Anton O. Kris
Revised and Expanded Edition
London

K A R N AC BOOKS
Originally published in 1982 by Yale University
with assistance from the Marv Cady Tew Memorial Fund.
This revised and expanded edition first published in 1996 by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd,
118 Finchley Road,
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 1996 Anton O. Kris
The author gratefully acknowledges permission from The Psychoanalytic
Study of the Child to quote from his article: "Either-Or Dilemmas, " first
published in volume 32,1977; and from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., for permission
to quote from The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens © 1954.
The rights of Anton O. Kris to be identified as author of this work have been
asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloging in Publication Data
Kris, Anton O., 1934-
Free association. — Rev. ed.
1. Free association (Psychology)
I. Title
616.8'917
ISBN: 978 1 85575 138 5
Edited, designed, and produced by Communication Crafts
10 987654321
Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
WALLACE STEVENS
from "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"

CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION ix

PREFACE Xiii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xvii

1 Formulation from the viewpoint of free association 1

2 Varieties of free association 8

3 Functions of free association 14

4 The method of free association 22

5 Reluctance, resistance, and negative attitudes 31

6 The dynamics of free association 39

7 Satisfaction in free association 46

8 Free association in two kinds of conflict 53

9 Transference and free association 62

vii
Viii CONTENTS
10 Countertransference and free association 72

11 Illustrations of the free association process 75

12 Development and free association 98

13 Free association in psychotherapy 102

14 Prospects for education and research 107

BIBLIOGRAPHY 111
INDEX 117
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION
R
eturning to this book after an interval of fifteen years
presents an opportunity to survey the changes in the
landscape it attempted to portray. Striking alterations
greet the eye—and yet more evident to me, the changes in the eye
that views them. The focus on the method of free association was
my attempt to make initial formulations of the data of clinical
psychoanalysis in a manner congenial to my way of thinking. I
took as my starting point the assumption that all analysts, of what­
ever theoretical persuasion, shared the general method of the
analytic situation. In employing the method of free association, the
patient attempts to say whatever comes to mind, relatively free of
conscious restriction, and the analyst attempts to assist the patient
to expand the freedom of association through understanding the
unconscious restrictions. The ensuing process, encompassing
mind and body, develops a life of its own, directed by neither
participant. I saw (and see) the method as the product of two
minds at work.
By using the method as the basis of initial formulations, I
hoped to avoid unnecessary theoretical assumptions and to high­
ix