International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 63
Farber often focuses on highlighting the
riskiness of the behavior. She feels that it is
crucial for the therapist to increase patients’
anxiety about these self-destructive behaviors by
addressing the cost of these actions. She
believes in safety first and interpretations at a
later stage. Therefore, she advises the therapist
to cultivate the development of signal anxiety as
a counterbalance to the kindling process. For
example, she gives an example of one addicted
person who began to understand that one drink
might begin a kindling process so powerful that
it would lead her on the self-destructive path of
binge drinking. This insight served to protect
her from taking that first drink.
In her chapter on intersubjectivity and the power
of the therapist’s affective experience, Farber
further demonstrates how the therapist can work
with clients to begin to “relinquish attachment to
pain and suffering that cries out for ecstatic
release.” Treatment needs to focus on the deficit
in the patients’ ability to regulate affect and
somatic states and the importance of providing
self-care. She points out that clients’ use of
dissociation permits them to have a lack of
concern or anxiety for their life-threatening
behaviors. She recognizes the need to interrupt
the dissociative process by addressing it directly
by saying something like, “I notice that you are
drifting off. Where did your mind go?” This
approach demonstrates the therapist’s interest in
knowing about the patients’ inner processes and
might help clients begin to connect with the
dissociated material.
Farber notes that over the past decade there has
been a movement away from classical principles
toward a more interactive, two-person view of
the analytic situation. This makes the analytic
relationship, “with its powerful, reciprocal
affective currents, crucial to the therapeutic
action” (p. 344). Sometimes, projective
identification occurs. This is an unconscious
process, first defined by Klein, by which the
patient projects uncomfortable or forbidden
affects onto others. Ideally, the therapist needs
to be able to tolerate the introjection of whatever
the patient is projecting onto her while, at the
same time, observing the action without reacting
severely. The therapist might not initially
recognize these projections. If not recognized,
this process becomes played out in enactments
in therapy sessions, with the therapist playing
out the needed reciprocal part. It is crucial for
the therapist always to be examining her own
feelings and behavior in sessions, then reviewing
and observing these enactments with the patient.
This observation of feelings and behavior of the
therapist as well as the patient will allow for a
different, new experience for the patient—a
therapeutic one. Farber emphasizes that an
enactment can serve as a turning point in
therapy, one that possibly leads to self-growth.
The therapist’s ability to authentically face her
part in this process and discuss it in a session
can “awaken” (Bromberg 2006) the patient from
a dissociated state, as if from a dream.
Farber writes about the positive aspects of
creativity and about her own pleasure in the
writing process. She also discusses the
therapeutic benefits of writing. In these final
chapters and throughout the book, Farber has
demonstrated her ability to write and work
creatively, empathically, and courageously—and
this is a gift to her readers.
References
Bromberg, P. (2006). Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys.
Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Klein, M. (1935). A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-
depressive states. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 16,
145–74.
Klein, M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 27, 99–110.
Lalich, J. (2004). Bonded choice. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
Lifton, R. (1961). Thought reform and the psychology of totalism.
New York, NY: Henry Holt.
Shaw, D. (2003). Traumatic abuse in cults: A psychoanalytic
perspective. Cultic Studies Review, 2(2), 101–129.
Farber often focuses on highlighting the
riskiness of the behavior. She feels that it is
crucial for the therapist to increase patients’
anxiety about these self-destructive behaviors by
addressing the cost of these actions. She
believes in safety first and interpretations at a
later stage. Therefore, she advises the therapist
to cultivate the development of signal anxiety as
a counterbalance to the kindling process. For
example, she gives an example of one addicted
person who began to understand that one drink
might begin a kindling process so powerful that
it would lead her on the self-destructive path of
binge drinking. This insight served to protect
her from taking that first drink.
In her chapter on intersubjectivity and the power
of the therapist’s affective experience, Farber
further demonstrates how the therapist can work
with clients to begin to “relinquish attachment to
pain and suffering that cries out for ecstatic
release.” Treatment needs to focus on the deficit
in the patients’ ability to regulate affect and
somatic states and the importance of providing
self-care. She points out that clients’ use of
dissociation permits them to have a lack of
concern or anxiety for their life-threatening
behaviors. She recognizes the need to interrupt
the dissociative process by addressing it directly
by saying something like, “I notice that you are
drifting off. Where did your mind go?” This
approach demonstrates the therapist’s interest in
knowing about the patients’ inner processes and
might help clients begin to connect with the
dissociated material.
Farber notes that over the past decade there has
been a movement away from classical principles
toward a more interactive, two-person view of
the analytic situation. This makes the analytic
relationship, “with its powerful, reciprocal
affective currents, crucial to the therapeutic
action” (p. 344). Sometimes, projective
identification occurs. This is an unconscious
process, first defined by Klein, by which the
patient projects uncomfortable or forbidden
affects onto others. Ideally, the therapist needs
to be able to tolerate the introjection of whatever
the patient is projecting onto her while, at the
same time, observing the action without reacting
severely. The therapist might not initially
recognize these projections. If not recognized,
this process becomes played out in enactments
in therapy sessions, with the therapist playing
out the needed reciprocal part. It is crucial for
the therapist always to be examining her own
feelings and behavior in sessions, then reviewing
and observing these enactments with the patient.
This observation of feelings and behavior of the
therapist as well as the patient will allow for a
different, new experience for the patient—a
therapeutic one. Farber emphasizes that an
enactment can serve as a turning point in
therapy, one that possibly leads to self-growth.
The therapist’s ability to authentically face her
part in this process and discuss it in a session
can “awaken” (Bromberg 2006) the patient from
a dissociated state, as if from a dream.
Farber writes about the positive aspects of
creativity and about her own pleasure in the
writing process. She also discusses the
therapeutic benefits of writing. In these final
chapters and throughout the book, Farber has
demonstrated her ability to write and work
creatively, empathically, and courageously—and
this is a gift to her readers.
References
Bromberg, P. (2006). Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys.
Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Klein, M. (1935). A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-
depressive states. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 16,
145–74.
Klein, M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 27, 99–110.
Lalich, J. (2004). Bonded choice. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
Lifton, R. (1961). Thought reform and the psychology of totalism.
New York, NY: Henry Holt.
Shaw, D. (2003). Traumatic abuse in cults: A psychoanalytic
perspective. Cultic Studies Review, 2(2), 101–129.
