Associations: a tool of analytical psychotherapy

Abstract

Neurosis originates from a conflict between the desire to achieve the ultimate goal and the unconscious drive to distance oneself from it, as well as from a massive attachment of emotional life to rational elements. Thus, in psychotherapeutic practice, some patients propose static session models that focus on symptoms, interpreting dreams in a defensive manner. The analyst's goal, therefore, in selecting salient elements from sensations and secondary content, is to facilitate a transition from anecdotal storytelling to emotional experience, moving away from corrective psychopedagogical attempts and leaning toward an understanding of the deep elements that characterize the patient's lifestyle. The mechanism of associations, starting from the consideration of the individual as a unique and unrepeatable entity, just like the dream symbols they produce, is a useful tool for overcoming those defensive mechanisms that reinforce feelings of inferiority