Influence of the Setting on a Psychotherapeutic Relationship in Analytically Oriented Brief Psychotherapy

In this brief review, the author stresses the interest of short-term psychotherapy in the study of psychotherapeutic processes: through modifications of time and space factors of the cure (limited duration – face-to-face) one can appreciate better the influence of the setting on the nature of the process. By comparing the psychotherapeutic situation (face-to-face) to the psychoanalytic situation (back-to-face), the author highlights some specific features of psychotherapies, in particular the influence of the infraverbal language and its consequences on the cure. In a face-to-face situation for example, the subject unconsciously tries to incorporate the therapist in his ego, and this very powerful merging mechanism may hinder the evolutive process of the treatment. Some of the aspects examined apply to any doctor-patient relationship.