Table Of ContentFREUD'S
TECHNIQUE
PAPERS
STEVEN J. ELLMAN, PH. D.
FREUD'S TECHNIQUE PAPERS
COMMENTARY
"The appearance of this book will be welcomed by all therapists who base their
technique on psychoanalysis. In a carefully thought out and critical presenta-
tion of Freud's papers on technique, the author traces the influence of Freud's
seminal ideas as they appear in the writings of psychoanalysts today. The
writing is engagingly lucid and the presentation commendably objective. This
book represents one of the most comprehensive overviews of the evolution of
psychoanalytic technique since the beginning of psychoanalysis."
-Jacob A. Arlow, M.D.
"F,.elNl's Techn;qlle Pape,.s: A Contempo,.ary Pe,.spect;fle is a didactic and
expository tour de force. The volume presents eight of Freud's papers on the
psychoanalytic method embedded in discussions of the origins and develop-
ment of the core concepts and their impact on and reformulations in the
contemporary technical perspectives of Brenner, Gill, and Kohut. Ellman's
footnotes to Freud's papers are exceptionally lucid and clarifying. He has
succeeded in explicating Freud's theory of technique in a manner comparable
to what Rapaport achieved for Freud's theory of thought."
-Arnold D. Richards, M.D.
"The book, written by a first-rate thinker and teacher, is an invaluable contri-
bution. The student will get a broad, nonpolemical education. The teacher will
find a goldmine of ideas for a fascinating model of teaching. And the advanced
professional will encounter a mind-stretching review that will stimulate inte-
gration as well as controversy. It is truly a book that is valuable at many levels. I
recommend it highly." -Fred Pine, Ph.D.
"Steve Ellman has written an original, ingenious, and very intelligent book that
will be of use to all students of Freud. It contains a careful and scholarly tracing
of Freud's development as an investigator of the mind, as a clinician, and as a
theorist of psychoanalytic therapy and technique.
"Dr. Ellman also adds a synthetic exposition of current psychoanalytic
views on each of the topics he has chosen-such as transference, dream
interpretation, beginnings and terminations of treatment, and reconstruc-
tions-and compares these widely varying opinions with Freud's own and
often very different notions. This book is a coherent, challenging, complex, and
yet highly intelligible series of accounts on a number of important intellectual
as well as psychoanalytic subjects." -Steven Marcus, Ph.D.
FREUD'S
TECHNIQUE PAPERS
A Contemporary Perspective
J.
by STEVEN ELLMAN, Ph.D.
with the research assistance of Peter Kaufmann, Ph.D.
[I]
OTHII
Other Press
New York
A hardcover edition of Freud's Technique Papers: A Contemporary
Perspective was printed in 1991 by Jason Aronson, Inc.
First softcover printing 2002
Copyright 0 1991 by Steven 1. Ellman
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written
permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case ofb riefq uotations in reviews
for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. Printed in the United States
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www.otherpress.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ellman, Steven 1.
Freud's technique papers: a contemporary perspective I Steven J. Ellman.
p.cm.
Originally published: Northvale, N.J. : Aronson, cl991.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 1-59051-011-9 (pbk.)
I. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. 2. Psychoanalysis. 3. Psychotherapy.
I. Title.
RC506. E45 2002
616.89' 17-dc21
2002025799
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Contents
p,.eface
A.cknowledgment
PART I: THE EARLY YEARS
1. Freud's Early Ideas 3
PART II: TRANSFERENCE AS A CENTRAL CONCEPT
2. The Evolution of the Concept of Transference 23
3. The Transference Papers 3'
3'
"The Dynamics of the Transference" (1912)
"Further Recommendations in the Technique of Psycho-
Analysis: '1R ecollection, Repetition and Wo,.king Th,.ONgh"
(1914)
"Further Recommendations in the Technique of Psycho-
Analysis: ObJef'flatiom on T,.amfe,.ence·Lofle"
(1915) 6,
4. Contemporary Perspectives 81
PART III: DREAM INTERPRETATION
5. The Exceptional Position of the Dream in Freudian
Thought 99
V111 Freud's Technique Papers
6. Freud's Dream Papers 109
"The Employment of Dream-Interpretation in Psycho-
Analysis" (1912) 109
"Remarks upon the Theory and Practice of Dream-
Interpretation" (1923) 117
7. Contemporary Perspectil'eS 133
PART IV: CUNICAL PRACTICE
8. Freud's Practical Suggestions 143
9. Freud's Recommendations Papers U3
"Recommendations for Physicians on the Psycho-Analytic
Method of Treatment" (1912) U3
"Further Recommendations in the Technique of Psycho-
Analysis: On Beg'nn'ng the Treatment. The Q,UHt'on
o/the Pi,.It Comm,micatiom. The DynamiC! 0/
the CM,.e." (1913) 16'
10. Contemporary Perspecti~s 193
PART V: FREUD'S FINAL VIEWS
11. Freud on Analyzability, Termination, and Reco~ry of
Pathogenic Memories 209
12. Freud's Termination and Construction Papers 22'
"Analysis Terminable and Interminable" (1937) 22'
"Constructions in Analysis" (1937) 241
13. Contemporary Views of Termination 2'7
14. Contemporary Views of Reconstruction 271
PART VI: INTEGRATING FREUD'S LEGACY WITH
CONTEMPORARY VIEWS AND EXPERIENCE
15. Freud's Actual Conduct of Treatment
16. The Widening Scope of Psychoanalysis
17. Freud's Positions
Re/e,.enceI 347
C,.editI 369
Amho,. Index 371
Sflbjecl Index 3n
Preface
Beginning Questions
The idea of writing a book on Freud's technique-or, more accurately, writing
a book of commentary on Freud's psychoanalytic method-comes as a natural
task to someone who has taught Freudian courses for the last twenty years. I
have found during these years that ideas about Freud's technique are as varied
as the theoretical positions in the analytic community. It seems to me possible
to use opinions about Freud's ideas on technique as a diagnostic test for a given
author's or student's theoretical perspective. It would be hard to imagine that
this diagnostic test would not be relevant to the present volume; undoubtedly I
am reading and writing about Freud through my own theoretical transference
reactions. However, in this publication we will have Freud's own words to
compare with the views that I introduce: one of the major aspects of this
manuscript is the reprinting of many of Freud's technique papers. Since this is
an important facet of the text I will give a brief rationale for my selection of
papers to reprint. I will also provide an explanation for the inclusion of
contemporary psychoanalytic authors and the choice of the various translations
of Freud's papers. These explanations will be more understandable after we
look at an overview of the book's contents.
Contents and Format of This Volume
Throughout the book we will keep one eye on Freud's work, and one eye on
how Freudian concepts have been incorporated into modern or contemporary
psychoanalytic thought. The book is divided into six pans. In Pan I (Chap-
