There is No Usual Way: Editor’s Introduction to Seven Papers on Endings in Analysis

This introductory essay provides an integrative summary and critical analysis of seven papers on endings in psychoanalysis. There is strong agreement regarding the essential individuality of each ending, rather than any usual criteria that apply to some but not to all endings of treatment. Recent developments in analytic theory and practice that focus on early trauma, dissociation, and the need for development of missing and inadequate structures and capacities raise new and newly emphasized questions regarding analytic endings. The advantages and disadvantages of different forms of post-treatment contact are considered, as are the implications of remotely conducted analysis. The analyst's resistance to ending emerges as a consistent emphasis in this series of papers.