Interview with Robert R. Holt by Carlo Bonomi

Abstract

Psychoanalysis had its starting point when in clinical work there arose a new form of listening with regard to the origin of the hysterical symptom. The appraisal of clinical observation is therefore fundamental. At times it inaugurates a new hypothesis or knowledge about the functioning of the mind; at other times it sheds light on a link between clinical work and theory, reaffirming or resulting in new associations about already existing knowledge. Our work lies within the latter proposition, since part of the observation attends to and re-examines certain theoretical aspects. We have begun with the observation that when during the analytical process the issues of castration, of the binomial masculine/feminine, and of separation from the analyst arise, they bring with them, more often than not, the theme “fear of death”. The relationship we attempt to establish between “fear of death” and the assumption of sexuality during analysis are founded on Freud's hypothesis regarding the process of childhood psychosexual development.

Concurrently, when we review Freudian hypothesis about the history of the human race and of primordial man we come across a third plane on which we can make further analogies for the understanding of our attitude once faced with sexuality and death. These theoretical concatenations sanction clinical observation and also serve to elucidate what we might term “the end of analysis”.