One life heals another: Beginnings, maturity, outcomes of a vocation

Abstract

must run twice as fast as that” (Carroll, 1865; reprint 1993, p. 79). On the other hand, it is clear in psychoanalysis there is little consensus: when discussing analytic techniques Charles Brenner wrote: “All are agreed that an analyst listens while the patient talks and then intervenes at what is considered to be an appropriate time, but there agreement ends” (Brenner, 2007, p. 49). However, there are also some surprises. Stefana makes a continuous and constant crosslink between the theoretical positions of the various scholars. This allows the reader to “fly” from one continent to another, following the clinical and theoretical manifestations of the concept of countertransference. Thus we can appreciate authors who remain adherent to the clinic and the therapeutic encounter with the patient, and others who slide towards theories that can appear decidedly abstract. In fact, by reading these pages over and over, new things can be found. Sometimes we pause to reflect on a sentence; other times we are induced to explore other books and correspondence. Sometimes, the reader can take notes to follow up their curiosity of wanting to know more: for example, to gain more knowledge on the Scottish psychoanalyst Denis V. Carpy, or on Otto Gross’s (mutual) analysis with Jung. Stefana closes his work with a chapter called “Some non-conclusive considerations”. Wisely, he writes: