Initial Psychoanalytic Interview

The aim and objectives of this dissertation are to analyze various methods and approaches to the primary interview for the most accurate determination of mental functioning and to determine the criteria for selecting a method of therapy for a particular individual patient. Also to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods of conducting the primary interview, highlighting controversial issues, techniques in the primary psychoanalytic interview, and examples of the various opinions expressed in the scientific professional community. The results drawn from the study are the uniqueness and individuality of each case study. The primary interview is an encounter that may or may not take place. However, no matter what personality structure the patient may have, the analyst's task is to find the most appropriate treatment for the individual in each particular case. Therefore, the analyst needs not only to subtly sense, observe, analyze, or follow the analysand, but also to preserve his analytic self by drawing on theoretical and practical knowledge of the functioning of the mental apparatus. Despite the differences in methods in the approach to the analytic interview, not only within the various psychoanalytic schools but also within the French psychoanalytic school, the analyst's main task is to formulate a hypothesis regarding the mental functioning of the patient and to suggest an appropriate method of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, or psychodrama, respecting the framework of the psychoanalytic frame. Structure of the work: the master's thesis consists of an introduction and two chapters, in the first of which the historical view of the particularities of the primary interview, as well as the psychoanalytic frame, the particularities of the choice of therapy method, the working technique in the primary interview process, the different methods of the primary interview in different psychoanalytic schools, the Transference in the primary psychoanalytic interview, practical recommendations in conducting a primary psychoanalytic interview, as well as parameters for assessing a patient's mental patient's mental functioning. The second chapter is empirical, presenting two cases with subsequent findings, two case studies, a conclusion, and a bibliographic list of theoretical sources.