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In the next series we see the
therapist telling Mr Jones that he is ‘pleased to see him’. We
then see Mr Jones completely naked with the therapist and the
therapist saying that he is ‘surprised to see quite so much of
him’. This couple of cartoons symbolises the return of the
patient to therapy and the feelings of relief and regret that both
patient and therapist may feel. There is relief for the
therapist that the patient is alive but a regret at the emotional
work that still needs to be undertaken. There may be relief for the
patient that they are still alive but also regret that they remain
tormented and there is still emotional work to be done.
The nakedness of the bare patient
in this cartoon symbolises infantile exposure but also the return
of repressed feelings of helplessness that the patient has been
struggling to deny or split off. There is, in the relationship
with the therapist, a transference of this regressed state towards
dependency upon the therapist and this carries with it a certain
burden in the counter-transference for the therapist. One
might argue that much of the emotional distance the practitioners
attempt to maintain from their patients is to defend themselves
against the burden of regression and of dependency upon them by
their patients.
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Page last updated on 8 February 2009
by E Baker-Glenn