Dependence in absentia

Authors

  • Karin Pinter

Abstract

“Dependence in absentia" is a phenomenon I come across frequently in my clinical work. Patients express their anxieties, depression or just frustration about feeling dependent on a person with whom real-life contact hardly takes place. This is illustrated in this paper by several vignettes of the case of Ms. A. Against the background of well established observations of developmental psychology, the paper outlines appropriate patterns of therapeutic interactions that answer the needs of patients' expressions of “dependence in absentia". Particular attention is paid to the question what kind of “autonomy" could serve as point of reference when it comes to overcome “dependence in absentia"?

Keywords Dependent relation; Efficacy; Autonomy; Shaping of relations; Case vignette.

Author Biography

Karin Pinter

Mag. phil. Karin Pinter, Psychoanalytikerin in freier Praxis in Wien, Mitglied des Wiener Kreises für Psychoanalyse und Selbstpsychologie, Studium der Ethnologie und Politikwissenschaft, psychotherapeutische Tätigkeit in einem jüdischen Altersheim (Maimonides Zentrum) sowie im psychiatrischen Krankenhaus Baumgartner Höhe in Wien. Zahlreiche Publikationen.

Korrespondenz: Röntgengasse 7,
1170 Wien, Österreich

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Published

2007-04-01

How to Cite

Pinter, K. (2007). Dependence in absentia. Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft, (2), 58–62. Retrieved from https://psychotherapie-wissenschaft.info/article/view/123

Issue

No. 2 (2007): Psychotherapie Forum 15/2 (veröffentlicht bei Springer Wien New York)

Section

Original Work

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