| Abstract: | The blurring of the distinction between language and action in contemporary psychoanalytic theories expands the traditional boundaries of psychoanalytic therapy. The current article delineates a conceptualization of psychoanalytic boundaries based on D. Winnicott's (1971) concept that transitional space defines the psychoanalytic process. It is proposed that D. Winnicott's (1971) concept shifts the psychoanalytic paradigm to adaptation, rather than interpretation, as the overriding analytic task. The analyst's adaptation and its limitations define the psychoanalytic dyad, and psychoanalytic boundaries, from this viewpoint, are expressions of the analyst's subjectivity. The clinical implications of this concept of psychoanalytic boundaries are demonstrated in the treatment of a severely regressed patient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
