ABSTRACT
The power of suggestion rests on the patient’s tendency to identify with the suggestionist. In contrast to this, by focussing his interpretations on how the patient is (as opposed to how he or she should be)—that is, by restricting his activity to making the patient conscious of the unconscious context from which his experiences and beliefs arise, the analyst gives the patient an opportunity to identify with himself or herself, not with the suggestionist/therapist, thereby turning the analysis fertile ground for the development of self-containment and psychological development. In psychoanalysis, empathy is not the analyst’s identification with or sympathy for the patient (as it might be if viewed from a moral or “supportive” perspective). It is understanding where the patient is coming from solely for the purpose of acquainting them with themselves so they may have minds of their own.
