The Mark of Oppression: Jews and Homosexuals as Strangers

Abstract

As my career as a psychoana1yst draws to a close, comments multiply regarding my "practical experiences." Ana1ysands sometimes manifest their idea1izing transference as well as their fear that their position is hopeless and their accompanying feeling of impotence, so that even at the beginning of their treatment the weight of their own experience does not coincide with their selfeva1uations. Younger colleagues do not simply allude to my long experience; there is often an undercurrent of envy of the acquired knowledge that has brought me prestige and authority. Likewise, envy is stirred up in me, with the melancholy undertone, "If you only knew! I would withdraw gladly from this position, had I the future ahead of me as you do." Both life's experience and fascination emanate from the activity of the ana1yst. When envy fades away, the voice of conscience can be heard to say, "But one should let one's experience teach someone else; one should pass it on." It is then that those who are envious can get that which they do not have; that which I have is made legitimate. And, as any performance of a duty inevitably causes, my damaged narcissistic balance is restored anew. I was once able to gain this narcissistic advantage with a clinica1 study about the termination of analyses (Parin, 1981a), which is a subject that obviously presupposes many years of psychoana1ytic work.