In his text “Constructions in Analysis,” Freud (1937) compares the analyst’s work to that of an archaeologist, who is in better condition when working with live material. However, analysts and archaeologists must consider that probabilities tend to be greater than certainties concerning reconstructions.
Thus goes the process of analysis, a long and profound journey in which the analyst and patient investigate the past and reflect on the present in a shared journey. Freud (1937) continues: The analyst completes a fragment of the construction and communicates it to the subject of the analysis so that he can act on it; he then constructs another fragment from the new material that spills over it, deals with it in the same way, and proceeds in this alternating manner until the end.
Even though there are theoretically defined concepts and technical alternatives for analytical work with patients presenting the most diverse complaints and sufferings, clinical practice is always a new and unexpected task with each pair that is formed.
Thalita Gabínio – Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist
