To Live Before Dying: Commentary on Paper by Anthony Bass

In this commentary, I discuss Anthony Bass's humane, courageous article about the unconscious connection between analyst and analysand. His focus on the meeting of unconscious minds lends a refreshingly democratic tilt to the treatment relationship. His primary emphasis on the unconscious, however, seems to de-emphasize the vital role of consciousness and its capacity to engage the revelations of the unconscious. Similarly, Bass's theoretical focus on a fundamental underlying unity, though of great significance, seems to minimize the importance of separateness and the fact that the analyst and analysand have discrepant experiences. Bass's treatment of Ralph, a patient with terminal cancer, highlights the differences in the experiences of both participants as well as the underlying human frailties they have in common. In this light, I suggest that Ralph's relationship with Bass enabled him to “live before dying,” to separate and gain a sense of integrity before returning to the whole.