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Forwarded message:
Subj:    Re: Brief Vignette with a Technical Twist
Date:    97-10-30 12:51:55 EST
From:    DMitt1
To:      [log in to unmask]

In a message dated 97-10-30 11:43:14 EST, Menachem Feder wrote:

<< Dear David,
        It appears that your presentation would fall under the rubric of
issues
related to 'timing' of interpretations (especially regarding
interpretations of resistance), particularly when introduced before the
establishment of a clear therapeutic alliance.
        From a dialectical perspective it occurs to me that the institution
of
some self-disclosure at this point regarding the possible source of some
of your own [countertransferential] concerns regarding this matter might
have elicited less anxiety and been more timely.......>>

As far as the issue of timing of interpretation, I never thought of that
aspect.  However, my interpretation seemed rather close to the surface, and I
frequently make trial interpretations of that nature (if the material lends
itself to that) to assess how the prospective patient responds to an analytic
approach, and to share with them in a concrete nature what it is I have to
offer them (essentially, my ears and my words).
But your point is well-taken--about the risky aspects of premature
interpretation of material which the patient is not prepared to hear, which
ordinarily heightens the patient's resistances, and the anxieties which lead
to them.

As far as self-disclosure, I did admit to the woman that I had concerns as
well which pertained to my own work, in contrast to my being solely concerned
about her prospective therapy, and felt it would have been dishonest of me to
not acknowledge that.  I was admittedly anxious about the "secret", and the
various implications of it.

Thank you for your comments.

David Mittelman