Læknablaðið - 01.06.1961, Page 45

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
73
As \ve see the therapeutic
situation as a single integral
human reality, therapist and
patient can no longer be seen
as separable entities but as two
aspects of a unitary process-5)
The diagnosing and prognosing
of the therapist of liimself be-
comes as important as his diag-
nosing and prognosing of liis
patient. The therapist must be
continually asking himself
throughout each therapeutic
venture what are my assets and
liabilities in my environment
and in myself. In short where
am I in my moving toward my
own self-realization.
A therapist in self-diagnosing
is really asking what have I to
call on in myself and in my
environment for more effective
working with this particular
patient and wliat liabilities in
myself must I keep in mind.
It is better to start with the
simple and self-evident which
is often overlooked. As human
beings we all have had experi-
ences with helping and witli
growing. In some measure those
experiences may have stimu-
lated some of us to become
physicians in which profession
the philosophy of healing and
the maintaining of physical
health are so integral. These
experiences plus a searching for
answers to our own emotional
problems may have led some
of us into psychiatry. A feeling
of limited competence in thera-
P3r, witli our patients and with
ourselves have led manj' into
seeking psychoanalvtic train-
ing. In fact when all these were
not present in a significant deg-
ree, I have found tliat these
people did not turn out to be
good therapists or contribute
significantly to psychoanalysis.
Bluntly put, not suffering for
its own sake, hut human suffer-
ing6 that led to some measure
of maturing and wisdom I feel
are an essential prerequisite to
being a good therapist.
All analjTsts by the time they
began treating patients liave
liad some personal experience
in analvsis which thej' could
apply in their therapeutic work.
By the time an analyst begins
treating patients anal\Ttically, he
has liad two experiences as a
novice, namely, as a physician
and as psychiatrist. He has
known the feelings of confusion,
incompetence and awkwardness
as well as the experience of
slowly finding more solid
ground in himself tlirough his
successes and failures. He lias
known through friends, ac-
quainances and predecessors in
training that growing ispossible.
Tlirough contact with his own
analjTst, his teachers and
through a knowledge of psychi-
atric and psvchoanalytic history,
he has learned that a wide range
of people have been helped, that