I’ve had patients with me double digit years and I’ve had patients with me months. Do I think you can accomplish a lot in months? No. When I went to Doctor Spotnitz, first day I walk in and he says, “I want you to tell me your life story, minute by minute, moment by moment.” I was in my early twenties. Well, that should take me twenty years. It’s an overwhelming feeling.
Assume who you are has been generated over your life and you’re going to meet with an analyst, typically, once a week. Some people meet with classical psychoanalysts, three, four, five times a week. That’s way too stimulating. I think that’s way too much.
If you think that you’re going to spend fifty minutes once a week, that’s a lot to talk about. Some people come in and give me the history of the week. Some people come in and give me the history of the world. Some people come in and give me the history of their lives. It’s whatever they need to do.
If I think I need to help them, I find ways to ask the right question or have an intervention that might be helpful to keep them talking. ~ Rafael Sharón, NCPsyA, SCPsyA, Psychoanalyst in Princeton NJ
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