Abstract

In the early sixties we started to investigate the interpretive process as interaction aiming at validation of parts of the clinical theory of psychoanalysis. Dissatisfied with the usual case reports in technical seminars we (Thomä and Houben 1967) developed a schema for the reporting analyst supplementing the criterias suggested by Issacs. The schema centered upon the thoughts and intentions of the analyst on the one hand and the reactions of the patient and the changes in his/her behavior emotional life, and symptoms on the other side. The new description of the interchange of the "history of interaction" (Meyer) was the clinical basis of our later process and outcome research. Our attempt to validate parts of the psychoanalytic theory led to a collaboration with A.-E. Meyer. His "retroreports" facilitate insights into the subjective background of inference processes behind the verbal communication (audiotaped and transcribed). Now it is possible to distinguish different types of suggestion and to clarify the so-called "contamination" of "psychoanalytic data". Some elements of the original contributions of A. E. Meyer are appreciatively described.