The Specificity of the Psychoanalytic Method

As theory and method are closely connected, the current unease toward the psychoanalytic theory involves also the method, and it is therefore necessary to deal with it. After a brief examination the various methods employed by Freud before he arrived at the psychoanalytic method, the methodological reflection of D. Rapaport is examined. The two major conclusions proposed are: i) The psychoanalysis, based on the historical-clinical method, is founded on positivistic and deterministic epistemic premises; ii) The psychoanalytic specificity of the interpersonal relationship taken to its extreme consequences leads to the absolutization of the verbalization, giving rise to solipsism. As an alternative, the author suggests adopting a method called observation of the relationship which places the psychoanalyst both inside and outside the relational system and which, thanks to parameters which are inferred from the structuration of the field, justifies a metareading of the relationship (interpretation).

First published in Ricerca Psicoanalitica (1990), 1(1), pp. 23-38 and here again proposed in this focus dedicated to Michele Minolli.