On Freud’s On Beginning the Treatment

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On Freud’s “On Beginning the Treatment”, edited by Christian Seulin and Gennaro Saragnano, offers a deep and clinically grounded reappraisal of Freud’s 1913 paper “On Beginning the Treatment (Further Recommendations on the Technique of Psychoanalysis I)”. This pivotal text is Freud’s attempt to formalize and clarify the practical and technical foundations of psychoanalytic work, particularly in its earliest phase. Rather than focusing on theory, Freud provides pragmatic guidance on issues such as setting up the analytic frame, managing the patient’s expectations, interpreting resistance, and maintaining analytic neutrality. It is in this paper that Freud famously asserts the importance of the "analytic rule"—asking patients to say whatever comes to mind—and stresses the need for analysts to listen with "evenly suspended attention." In this edited volume, Seulin and Saragnano bring together contemporary psychoanalytic voices to reassess Freud’s recommendations within the context of modern clinical realities. The contributors explore how Freud’s technical insights remain deeply relevant while also requiring adaptation in light of newer models of mind, development, and relationality. Topics such as the establishment of the therapeutic frame, the nature of the analytic contract, the patient's first communications, and the analyst's stance are reconsidered with sensitivity to the cultural, social, and psychic complexities of today’s analytic setting. The volume also examines how beginning treatment is a psychological event for both analyst and patient. Contributors reflect on the anxieties, fantasies, and transference-countertransference dynamics that often emerge from the very first encounter. The book discusses various models of analytic engagement—from classical Freudian technique to relational and intersubjective approaches—and compares their implications for how the treatment is initiated and structured. Clinically rich and theoretically nuanced, On Freud’s “On Beginning the Treatment” reaffirms that the start of psychoanalytic work is never a mere procedural phase, but rather a critical moment that can shape the course of the entire analytic relationship. By revisiting Freud’s original recommendations and examining them through contemporary psychoanalytic lenses, the volume offers valuable guidance for clinicians at all levels of experience. It ultimately underscores the enduring challenge—and necessity—of creating a therapeutic space where the unconscious can begin to speak, and where the process of transformation can begin.