On the Importance of Gender in the Psychoanalytic Relation (Discussion)

Abstract

Brenner H. On the Importance of Gender in the Psychoanalytic Relation (Discussion). Int Forum Psychoanal 1992;1:29-3 1. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-706X

In the discussion of the contributions by Alan Grey and Ann Turkel, the author compares their findings with her own, both on the theoretic and practical levels. While the question of gender evidently plays a role, its importance seems to differ depending on the traditional attitudes of society, with changes becoming apparent in line with feministic trends, but varying from one culture to the next, and also from one therapist to another depending on her/his own personal history. In conclusion, Heidy Brenner answers the question posed at the beginning, also in the sense of Alan Grey, that it is to a large extent a matter of the therapist's personal maturity whether a patient—male or female—feels comfortable with him or her; that the required openness is possible; and that the necessary frustration tolerance can be achieved, so that the patient need not hide behind a falsely understood identity with the analyst.