The analyst as father: remembering and repeating - in the hope of working through

This paper arose from a PhD thesis entitled What do patients want? Psychoanalytic perspectives from the couch . As outcome studies in psychoanalysis have usually only acknowledged the analyst s voice, this empirical research provided an opportunity for patients to be heard. The aim was to discover what they themselves perceived as helpful, or unhelpful, in the analytic process. One of the central themes that emerged was a powerful connection between the analytic and real life experiences of father, at many levels, which needed to be explored within the transference relationship with the analyst.