(1975).

Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis,3(1):43-57

Meditation and Psychoanalysis
Patricia Carrington and Harmon Ephron

Psychoanalysis is being challenged by the emergence and rapid proliferation of a

number of divergent psychotherapies. Active techniques loosely identified by the
umbrella term “encounter,” together with neo-Reichian methods, primal therapies, and
some offshoots of behavior modification (e.g. assertiveness training) appear to fall at
one extreme of an activity-passivity continuum. Passive-receptive techniques; alpha
biofeedback training, relaxation training, sensory awareness training, methods for
inducing altered states of consciousness through alteration of sensory milieu, and the
meditative techniques, fall at the other extreme.

In contrast to psychoanalysis, the active techniques conceive of the healing process as

dependent on bodily and/or verbal behavior which is an end in itself. A direct-action
relationship between therapist and patient, extensive catharsis, and an outward
dramatization of the working through process so that conflicts are visibly resolved,
typify these procedures which might, in general, be described as differing from
psychoanalysis in that they seek to externalize intrapsychic conflict rather than
observe and analyze it. Alongside the excitement and drama of these “externalizing”
therapies, the relatively quiet, introspective approach of psychoanalysis seems sedate
and passive.

There is, however, an equally strong and growing emphasis on forms of therapy more
passive than psychoanalysis. The passivereceptive therapies seek to turn attention
inward in a manner which excludes verbalization or conceptualization. Direct
consideration of the patient's interpersonal role is also extraneous to these
approaches which might be termed radically “internalizing.” The inward thrust of these
therapies makes psychoanalysis seem verbal, conceptual, and intellectual by
comparison.

https://pep-web.org/browse/document/jaa.003.0043a

Carrington, P., & Ephron, H. S. (1975). Meditation and psychoanalysis. Journal of the American
Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 3(1), 43-57.