The philosopher Emmanuel Kant speculated that a dove might think it would find flying easier without the encumbrance of air around it. He observed that such a bird would, of course, soon discover flight in a vacuum impossible.

Aldo Carotenuto here demonstrates that, like Kant's dove, the analyst cannot exclude the transference and countertransference from the analytical field--that movement toward healing is not possible without the medium of relationship, created by the interacting personalities of analyst and analysand.

Carotenuto explores this subject in historical depth,...