Formulating and evaluating hypotheses in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Abstract

Little psychoanalytic literature exists dealing with the formulation and evaluation of hypotheses in the therapeutic situation. This paper is an initial exploration and systematization of criteria presently in use. Hypothesis formation is discussed in terms of the accumulation of data and its recontextualization. Then follows an account of prevalidation, the silent evaluation of an hypothesis. Before an hypothesis can be turned into an intervention considerations of spoken form, order and timing must be taken into account. Finally, after intervening, post-validation can occur: the evaluation of the hypothesis on the basis of the patient's responses.