Thank you for your kind response, Dr. Broitman. The work I referred to was: Chessick, R. "The Techique and Practice ofListening in Intensive Psychotherapy" 1989 Jason Aronson
My struggle with Control Mastery is in understanding what kind of test is being presented to the therapist. I realize that there are two, The Transference test and the Passive-into-active test. Conceptually this fits well with Object Relations formulations. And the concept of a client having an unconscious plan of their work in therapy. However, when I try to determine which test a client is giving me, I have trouble. For example, in the case of Otto, he first presented as out of control to Dr. Nathanson. If this is seen as a transference test, the test might be, “I am out of control as I was when I came home late and my father locked me in a closet. Will you lock me up as he did?” Alternately, if we view Otto’s presentation to Dr. Nathanson as a passive-active test, we might formulate it as, “I, like my mother am out of control with rage. How will you respond to me. Show me how you respond to me(mother) since I never learned how to do this as a child.” Another formulation of a transference test might be, “I am in a rage at Sally for her causing me much humiliation. As my mother caused me humiliation. Will you help me calm down since no one in my family did?” We can assume Dr. Nathanson passed the test since Otto recompensated in hospital and a positive working alliance is in evidence. And I think most therapists would have done the same thing as Dr. Nathanson did. But my question is....what guides you in determining which test is in operation. Another example I see fairly often in a therapy is the phenomenon of a client starting to cancel sessions. Sometimes this feels like a transference test of someone whose mother didn’t want them to leave home. At other times it feels like a passive-active test seeing how I handle an abandonment or detachment. I hope my question is clear despite all the verbage. Thank you, Norm