Relaxation in Technique Leading to New Beginnings^*

Abstract

This paper explores how standard analytic technique may result in a repetition of past traumatic experiences in the transference and countertransference analytic situation. Relaxation and elasticity of technique can lead to re-integration of previously fragmented ego functions, and in remembering and re-experiencing of previously repressed symbolic representations of fragmenting past traumatic experiences, resulting in neocatharsis and working through, thus healing wounds and scars sustained in self development. This healing process will be described through a detailed depiction of an analytic process introducing relaxation of technique, in a response by the analyst, to the patient’s Orpha (self-protective) function. Responsiveness to the patient’s implicitly or explicitly expressed needs, in the analytic space, may require a departure from standard technique for a deeper level of dynamic work where symbolization of unrepresented emotional experiences becomes possible.