| Chapter 4 | |
| Notes on the Contribution of the Analyst's Self-Awareness to Optimal Responsiveness | |
| Shelley R. Doctors | |
While the subject matter of responsiveness, provision, gratification and restraint—what the analyst does—is located in the psychoanalytic situation, moment to moment clinical decisions are critically related to the larger question—why she does what she does and how beneficial change occurs. What is the optimal way to respond so that change will occur? Morton and Estelle Shane's useful review of the optimal responsiveness literature thus bridges two levels of discourse. One level refers to that which is “observable” or empathically accessible in the clinical situation. The other is “inferential” and refers to mental ...
Get Progress in Self Psychology, V. 12 now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
