The Consulting Room and Beyond: Psychoanalytic Work and Its Reverberations in the Analyst's Life (Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Series)

166 Pages·2008·1.38 MB·English

by  Therese Ragen

(cid:85)(cid:105)(cid:102)(cid:33)(cid:68)(cid:112)(cid:111)(cid:116)(cid:118)(cid:109)(cid:117)(cid:106)(cid:111)(cid:104)(cid:33)(cid:83)(cid:112)(cid:112)(cid:110)(cid:33)(cid:98)(cid:111)(cid:101)(cid:33)(cid:67)(cid:102)(cid:122)(cid:112)(cid:111)(cid:101)
Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Series
Volume 9
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd ii 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4422 PPMM
PSYCHOANALYSIS IN A NEW KEY BOOK SERIES
Donnel B. Stern
Series Editor
When music is played in a new key, the melody does not change, but
the notes that make up the composition do: change in the context of con-
tinuity, continuity that perseveres through change. “Psychoanalysis in a
New Key” publishes books that share the aims psychoanalysts have always
had, but that approach them differently. The books in the series are not
expected to advance any particular theoretical agenda, although to this
date most have been written by analysts from the Interpersonal and Rela-
tional orientations.
The most important contribution of a psychoanalytic book is the com-
munication of something that nudges the reader’s grasp of clinical theory
and practice in an unexpected direction. “Psychoanalysis in a New Key”
creates a deliberate focus on innovative and unsettling clinical thinking.
Because that kind of thinking is encouraged by exploration of the some-
times surprising contributions to psychoanalysis of ideas and fi ndings
from other fi elds, “Psychoanalysis in a New Key” particularly encourages
interdisciplinary studies. Books in the series have married psychoanalysis
with dissociation, trauma theory, sociology, and criminology. The series
is open to the consideration of studies examining the relationship between
psychoanalysis and any other fi eld—for instance, biology, literary and art
criticism, philosophy, systems theory, anthropology, and political theory.
But innovation also takes place within the boundaries of psycho-
analysis, and “Psychoanalysis in a New Key” therefore also presents
work that reformulates thought and practice without leaving the pre-
cincts of the fi eld. Books in the series focus, for example, on the sig-
nifi cance of personal values in psychoanalytic practice, on the complex
interrelationship between the analyst’s clinical work and personal life,
on the consequences for the clinical situation when patient and ana-
lyst are from different cultures, and on the need for psychoanalysts to
accept the degree to which they knowingly satisfy their own wishes
during treatment hours, often to the patient’s detriment.
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd iiii 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4444 PPMM
PSYCHOANALYSIS IN A NEW KEY BOOK SERIES
Donnel B. Stern
Series Editor
Vol. 9 Vol. 5
The Consulting Room Prologue to Violence:
and Beyond: Child Abuse, Dissociation,
Psychoanalytic Work and and Crime
Its Reverberations in the Abby Stein
Analyst’s Life
Vol. 4
Therese Ragen
Prelogical Experience:
Vol. 8 An Inquiry into Dreams &
Making a Difference in Other Creative Processes
Patients’ Lives: Edward S. Tauber &
Emotional Experience in the Maurice R. Green
Therapeutic Setting
Vol. 3
Sandra Buechler
The Fallacy of Understanding
& The Ambiguity of Change
Vol. 7
Edgar A. Levenson
Coasting in the
Countertransference: Vol. 2
Confl icts of Self Interest What Do Mothers Want?
between Analyst and Contemporary
Patient Perspectives in Psychoanalysis
Irwin Hirsch and Related Disciplines
Sheila F. Brown
Vol. 6
Wounded by Reality: Vol. 1
Understanding and Clinical Values:
Treating Adult Emotions That Guide
Onset Trauma Psychoanalytic Treatment
Ghislaine Boulanger Sandra Buechler
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd iiiiii 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4455 PPMM
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd iivv 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4466 PPMM
(cid:85)(cid:105)(cid:102)(cid:33)(cid:68)(cid:112)(cid:111)(cid:116)(cid:118)(cid:109)(cid:117)(cid:106)(cid:111)(cid:104)(cid:33)(cid:83)(cid:112)(cid:112)(cid:110)(cid:33)(cid:98)(cid:111)(cid:101)(cid:33)(cid:67)(cid:102)(cid:122)(cid:112)(cid:111)(cid:101)
(cid:81)(cid:116)(cid:122)(cid:100)(cid:105)(cid:112)(cid:98)(cid:111)(cid:98)(cid:109)(cid:122)(cid:117)(cid:106)(cid:100)(cid:33)(cid:88)(cid:112)(cid:115)(cid:108)(cid:33)(cid:98)(cid:111)(cid:101)(cid:33)(cid:74)(cid:117)(cid:116)(cid:33)(cid:83)(cid:102)(cid:119)(cid:102)(cid:115)(cid:99)(cid:102)(cid:115)(cid:98)(cid:117)(cid:106)(cid:112)(cid:111)(cid:116)
(cid:106)(cid:111)(cid:33)(cid:117)(cid:105)(cid:102)(cid:33)(cid:66)(cid:111)(cid:98)(cid:109)(cid:122)(cid:116)(cid:117)(cid:214)(cid:116)(cid:33)(cid:77)(cid:106)(cid:103)(cid:102)
THERESE RAGEN
Foreword by Donnel Stern
New York London
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd vv 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4466 PPMM
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
270 Madison Avenue 27 Church Road
New York, NY 10016 Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-88163-472-3 (Softcover) 978-0-88163-471-6 (Hardcover)
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, trans-
mitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without written permission from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ragen, Therese.
The consulting room and beyond : psychoanalytic work and its reverberations in the
analyst’s life / Therese Ragen.
p. ; cm. -- (Psychoanalysis in a new key book series ; v. 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-88163-471-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-88163-472-3
(softcover : alk. paper)
1. Psychoanalysis. 2. Psychotherapist and patient. I. Title. II. Series.
[DNLM: 1. Psychoanalytic Therapy. 2. Professional-Patient Relations. 3.
Psychotherapeutic Processes. WM 460.6 R141c 2008]
RC506.R336 2008
616.89’17--dc22 2008017752
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Routledge Web site at
http://www.routledgementalhealth.com
RRTT2200660066__CC000000..iinndddd vvii 88//1144//0088 66::5599::4499 PPMM
CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Legacy 1
2 September 11, 2001 15
3 Longing 35
4 Ferenczi and the Case of Matt 67
5 Harold and Uncle Frank 89
6 Success 109
7 Kate 117
References 141
Index 145
RRTT2200660066__CC000000ttoocc..iinndddd vviiii 88//66//0088 1100::3355::0066 AAMM
RRTT2200660066__CC000000ttoocc..iinndddd vviiiiii 88//66//0088 1100::3355::0066 AAMM
Foreword
Y
ou have never read anything like the essays in this book. Quite simply,
Therese Ragen has invented a new form of psychoanalytic writing.
I read the fi rst of these essays when I was the editor of Contemporary
Psychoanalysis. I thought they were remarkable, and we published them.
The pieces that Dr. Ragen has written since then are even better.
The category that comes closest to encompassing this work within its
boundaries is the personal essay. A personal essay addresses a particular
topic but, unlike the traditional essay, makes no pretense of objectivity.
The point is not the revelation, via the writer’s analysis, of something
new about the subject of the essay—or at least the point is not only such
revelation. The personal essay accomplishes something in that vein, but
by addressing what the topic of the essay means to the author. We read
the personal essay, therefore, not only to learn but also to experience
something along with the writer, and that something generally has con-
siderable personal signifi cance in the writer’s world.
All of this is certainly true of Dr. Ragen’s work, which is not only
personal but also often deeply moving. One of the two primary subjects
Dr. Ragen addresses is the place of her work as a psychoanalyst in the
broader bounds of her life. We learn about what it is like for her to be
a psychoanalyst. What are the joys, fears, hopes, and dreads that her
work contributes to her life? What is her work like for her when she is
out of the offi ce? Who are her patients to her, not only in the offi ce but
RRTT2200660066__CC000000gg..iinndddd iixx 88//88//0088 77::3311::2233 PPMM