The profession of ferryman: Considerations on the analyst's internal attitude in consultation and in referral1

Psychoanalytic consultation is an interview with a patient who will not be taken in treatment by the consultant analyst, but who will be sent to another, perhaps specifi cally chosen, colleague after one or more assessment sessions. This practice is becoming increasingly important since, besides traditional private relationships between consultant and patient, it is now common in many specialized centres affi liated to offi cial psychoanalytical institutions. The author explores some fundamental aspects of the analyst's internal attitude in consultation: motivation to know; a ‘concave’ attitude to listening; responsibility in proposing suitable technical choices and referral to a further specialist; empathy and partial identifi cation; the balance between authentic experience in the consultation and risks of seduction; internal links within the community of colleagues; the technique for sending patients on. He presents a clinical example, specifi cally aimed at reproducing the internal attitude of the analyst, together with the necessary work that allows a diffi cult patient to initiate psychoanalytic treatment.     

The Fairness Principle,Reward, and Altruistic Behavior

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between reward and altruism. It was hypothesized that the altruistic behavior of someone who has been asked for help will occur only after the person asking for help has been evaluated. As a result, if the situation of a person asking for help is perceived as less fortunate, help will be given even if no proportional award is received in return, according to a principle based on need that makes people feel they should help the needy. Results show that when the participants received an unfair award, they tended to offer much bigger donations only in the condition in which the other was perceived as less fortunate.