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Basic Psychoanalytic Concepts: VII. the Negative Therapeutic Reaction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2018
Extract
The clinical concept of the negative therapeutic reaction has been included in this series for a number of reasons. It is a concept of particular importance in the history of psychoanalysis, for it represents the clinical phenomenon chosen by Freud (1923) to illustrate the workings of an ‘unconscious sense of guilt’ and to indicate the existence of what he conceived of as a special mental agency—the superego. Moreover, it is a concept widely used in clinical psychoanalysis, although little has been written on the subject since Freud's original formulation of it. Unlike such concepts as transference (Sandler, Dare and Holder, 1970) and acting out (Sandler, Holder and Dare, 1970a) it has not been extensively applied outside clinical psychoanalysis. This may be regarded as surprising in view of the fact that it would seem to be readily capable of application without alteration to a wide variety of clinical situations.
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- Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1970
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