Progress in Self Psychology, V. 12

Chapter 8
Countertransference and Curative Process with “Nondifficult” Patients
Martin S. Livingston

 

“Difficult” patients have received a great deal of attention in the psychoanalytic literature. It has been “difficult” patients, like Kohut's (1968, 1971) Miss F, who have stretched the limits of existing clinical and theoretical knowledge resulting in new conceptualizations, such as those of self psychology and intersubjectivity. Brandchaft and Stolorow, in their article entitled “The Difficult Patient” (1988), point out that “the therapist's ability to deepen his reflective self-awareness when faced with difficult patients can enable him to recognize and decenter from recurrent patterns in himself that, in general, limit ...