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PSYCHOANALYTIC
INVESTIGATIONS
PSYCHO AN.ALY'TIC
NS:
IN.VES'TI GA 'TIO
Selected Papers
THERESE BENEDEK, M.D.
WITH A FOREWORD BY GEORGE H. POLLOCK
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Copyright© 1973 by Therese Benedek. All rights
reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-130377
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Production supervised by Planned Production.
Acknowledgments
As this volume comes closer to its publication, I am often seized by the
awareness of separation from the productive part of my life. But soon
the fear of termination is silenced by remembering the friends, col
leagues, and patients, all of whom participated in some way in what
appears now as my achievement. I owe thanks to many. Where to begin?
Dr. Franz Alexander first comes to mind. He made immigration
easy by affording me a professional home with its-at that time-unique
interest in psychosomatic research. I owe thanks to Dr. Boris B. Ruben
stein who was a reliable and patient collaborator on our common proj
ect. Then, of course, I think of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis,
a family of professional colleagues who were also my friends; their warm
interest and unwavering encouragement always sustained me. In order
to avoid making a roster, I mention only a few: Drs. Thomas M.
French, Helen V. McLean, Lucia E. Tower, Joan Fleming. Nameless
remain here those who were once my students and are now practicing
psychoanalysts, researchers and teachers. In the same way, I remember
my patients who felt they were being helped while I was learning
through them. I think of all with deep appreciation for the manifold
stimulation which I received from them.
After silencing the memories of the many to whom I cannot do jus
tice, the gap is filled with gratitude to my husband Tibor whose loving
patience made it possible for me to work without feeling guilty.
All this, however, would not have made possible the finished product,
the book. First I want to thank Dr. George H. Pollock whose persua
siveness convinced me that my publications merit being made available
in one volume. Helen Ross's invaluable contribution is on a different
level. Her friendship has been a beam of light since I arrived in this
country. When the idea of this volume came up, she not only enthusias
tically supported it, but immediately assumed the responsibility of
editing. I know how much attention, time and work she devoted to
improving the manuscript and making my English readable. Last, but
not least, I thank my secretary, Mrs. P. G. Gordon, whose conscientious
attention to all details seemed inexhaustible as she typed and retyped
the manuscripts. -
Therese Benedek, M.D.
Chicago, Illinois
April, 1973
Foreword
It is not often that a former student has the privilege of writing a fore
word to the selected papers of an esteemed teacher. It is with great plea
sure that I exercise that privilege here, to present a few aspects of
Therese Benedek that are not widely known. My own warm feelings
toward her stem from contact with her as a teacher, advisor, colleague,
and friend. The respect she has earned as a scientist is international,
and her work stands on its own. But the humanness of her being is less
easily discerned from her scientific contributions, although her writings,
which are of the highest scientific excellence, are also autobiographical.
She discovers something in herself, and this becomes the focus for a
creative journey that eventually contributes to our knowledge.
In her Introduction to this volume, Dr. Benedek writes that "Scien
tific production reflects the personality of the scientist." We know the
research that the psychoanalyst undertakes is always influenced by his
life, past and present. This may be reflected in the very area he chooses
to study. The external research process may mirror the intrap sychic
process involved in working out areas of unfinished internal business.
The scientist, his work processes, and his contributions indicate the
imbrication of his creative life with all facets of life.
In her original statement of purpose of this book, Dr. Benedek
takes note of the importance of intuition and introspection for the
scientist. As a result of his internal struggles, the scientist is able to
make conscious what is emerging "from the unknown depths of the
unconscious." Freedom "from internal control permits the forgotten to
be remembered," but also allows for an ordering, understanding, and
conceptualizing of what has entered the mind. 'I'he "free association"
and the "free-floating attention" of the clinical situation, when employed
by the scientist himself, allow for the playback of fantasy and checking
in the mind of the scientist, and the scientist "listens" to what his mind
is bringing forth; thus, freedom to perceive and freedom to receive are
5
6 PSYCHOANALYTIC INVESTIGATIONS
essential to the creative investigator. But this may not be enough. From
this crucible of feelings and fantasies, ideas reverberate in the mind:
Past experiential reflections are added to the caldron, cognitive under
standings appear, and a new idea, closure, or insight is produced. Words
may be found to express creatively what has finally been distilled into a
logical and understandable premise, while the pleasure of discovery
provides the impetus for further searching and testing. In this fashion,
the creative process parallels the analytic therapeutic process. Experi
encing, observing, and conceptualizing new levels of understanding and
discovery are the key steps. "Only by continually retesting abstractions
can knowledge grow . . . [however] an interpretation is not yet knowl
edge, but it is an hypothesis which fits or might fit" one situation. "The
formulation of hypotheses is not yet research. Investigation begins with
the analyst 'working through' his material."
Dr. Benedek asks in her usual penetrating way, "Where was I in
this process? How did I come to this idea?" Exposing herself to these
new questions, she arrives at answers which do not always appear in
print, but are dramatically present in the ideas that are published. Her
"consistent introspection" of the sustained transaction between her ego
and her self, her self and her work, her work and her field, reveals new
relationships for herself and for our science.
Even when Dr. Benedek discusses the intertwining of psychoana
lytic education with research training, we can perceive in her presentation
a unique mode of operation. "As the student learns to articulate behav
ioral data of analysis with explanatory concepts of theories, as he learns
to correlate analytic events with the learned concepts of dynamics,
economics, and genetics of behavior, he practices distancing himself
from experience. This is a primary requisite for research." She again
asserts, "Freedom of intrapsychic communication, unhampered by blind
spots and other impediments," facilitates this research set. Dr. Benedek
further notes, "After the pleasure of discovery comes its confrontation
with the known. The uncovering of new relationships among both new
and old data, fitting the new idea into old theories, or establishing why
and in what respect they do not fit-this is the tedious job of the re
searcher." Dr. Benedek's researches on the female sexual cycle and on
the supervision process are exemplary illustrations of her more general
proposition. But as she goes on to say, creativity involves "synthesizing
new patterns out of data whose interdependence and mutual reliance
have not been seen by others." Can this creative activity be taught?
She answers, and I would concur, that it may be developed if it has
heretofore been silent or latent.
Here, in this volume, are Dr. Benedek's outlines of the creative
research process. They represent a life's work developed on the special
foundation of being one of the early European psychoanalysts. Those
analysts, including Dr. Benedek, worked in a relative isolation which
