Ferenczi's Footprints at The New School

Abstract

Perhaps it is through one of Irvin Yalom's writings that I first got to know Sándor Ferenczi's name. His name was associated with the concept of "mutual analysis," which sounded fascinating, though I had little knowledge as to its exact meaning. I speculated that if the analyst analyzes the patient, perhaps in mutual analysis the patient also analyzes the analyst. My speculation was, in fact, not too far from the actual meaning of mutual analysis: one of Ferenczi's patients, who was sexually abused by her father, "demanded that the patient should also have the right to analyze the analyst" (Ferenczi, 1988, p.3). Ferenczi, with his relentless experimental spirit, embarked on this attempt of mutual analysis, by alternating "analyzing" positions/roles session by session (Myers, 1996).