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Wednesday
November 17, 2010
8:30 p.m.
Frequency of Sessions:
A Variable in Psychoanalytic Methodology
Charlotte Schwartz, Ph.D.
The author raises the question of frequency of sessions and its relevance to the psychoanalytic method. Does the relationship of time and space in the analytic encounter provide the sine qua non without which the analytic process cannot occur? Further, what is the precise time interval — one, two, three, four, or five — times a week to prove an effective method for psychoanalytic treatment? Since our research has not obtained answers to these questions, the verity of the various hypotheses is questionable. We tend to rely on our subjective experiences and clinical evaluations that place the frequency of sessions in a twilight zone.
It is the author’s contention that classical psychoanalytic theory has established a theoretical model that is clinically constant, replicable in broad general outlines, and has an inherent logic. The author offers some conclusions based on a review of the literature and general clinical experience.
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