Biomaterial Database

Use of the analyst as a fetish. 1992

O Renik

In some cases a gratifying transference fantasy is the subject of progressive analytic work, while in other cases the same type of fantasy eludes investigation, and its enactment causes treatment to become an unproductive endless task. One cause for the latter difficulty can be that the patient uses his or her analyst as a fetish, permitting the distinction between reality and fantasy to remain inconclusive, so that relinquishment of magical expectations does not take place. The particular form of thinking involved in use of the analyst as a fetish is described. The role of illusion, its various clinical manifestations, the countertransference reactions they can evoke, and the technical problems posed are discussed. Special attention is given to the crucial issue of termination. By considering extreme instances in which use of the analyst as a fetish predominates, the author hopes to call attention to a phenomenon that appears to some degree in many, if not all, analyses.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007088	Illusions	The misinterpretation of a real external, sensory experience.	Autokinetic Effect,Autokinetic Illusions,Effect, Autokinetic,Illusions, Auditory,Illusions, Kinesthetic,Illusions, Tactile,Illusions, Visual,Auditory Illusion,Auditory Illusions,Autokinetic Effects,Autokinetic Illusion,Effects, Autokinetic,Illusion,Illusion, Auditory,Illusion, Autokinetic,Illusion, Kinesthetic,Illusion, Tactile,Illusion, Visual,Illusions, Autokinetic,Kinesthetic Illusion,Kinesthetic Illusions,Tactile Illusion,Tactile Illusions,Visual Illusion,Visual Illusions
D008297	Male		Males
D011369	Professional-Patient Relations	Interactions between health personnel and patients.	Contacting Clients,Pharmacist-Patient Relations,Professional Patient Relationship,Client, Contacting,Clients, Contacting,Contacting Client,Pharmacist Patient Relations,Pharmacist-Patient Relation,Professional Patient Relations,Professional Patient Relationships,Professional-Patient Relation,Relation, Pharmacist-Patient,Relation, Professional-Patient,Relations, Pharmacist-Patient,Relations, Professional-Patient,Relationship, Professional Patient,Relationships, Professional Patient
D011575	Psychoanalytic Therapy	A form of psychiatric treatment, based on Freudian principles, which seeks to eliminate or diminish the undesirable effects of unconscious conflicts by making the patient aware of their existence, origin, and inappropriate expression in current emotions and behavior.	Balint Psychoanalytic Therapy,Psychoanalytic Therapy, Balint,Psychoanalytical Therapy,Therapy, Balint Psychoanalytic,Therapy, Psychoanalytic,Psychoanalytic Therapies,Psychoanalytical Therapies,Therapies, Psychoanalytic,Therapies, Psychoanalytical,Therapy, Psychoanalytical
D003379	Countertransference	Conscious or unconscious emotional reaction of the therapist to the patient which may interfere with treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)	Countertransference, Psychology
D005201	Fantasy	An imagined sequence of events or mental images, e.g., daydreams.	Day Dreams,Daydreams,Day Dream,Daydream,Dream, Day,Dreams, Day,Fantasies
D005260	Female		Females
D005329	Fetishism, Psychiatric	A condition in which inanimate objects are utilized as a preferred or exclusive method of stimulating erotic arousal.	Fetishism (Psychiatric),Psychiatric Fetishism
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man