Citation

Coren S. J. Clin. Psychol. (Hoboken) 2018; 74(5): 734-742.

Affiliation

Teachers College, Columbia University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jclp.22603

PMID

29578607

Abstract

This paper offers an integration of social issues, psychoanalytic theory, and analytic experience in the treatment of a patient whose political values and identifications differed significantly from my own. Our political leanings facilitated a dynamic tension of difference, power, and aggression that mirrored how each of us felt in relation to the current social-political milieu. In particular, the sadomasochistic dynamics on display in the treatment offered me a unique way of understanding my relationship with my patient and opened new ways of understanding the political present. In the end, I learned to stop worrying about getting rid of anger, aggression, and splitting, and instead to embrace what these feelings and behaviors can tell me as a therapist, and what they can inform for my patients about the nature of relationality, identity, and difference.

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

countertransference; politics and psychotherapy; projective identification; psychotherapy technique; social issues and psychotherapy