The space the analyst creates in his consulting room gives expression to the most primitive elements in his personality. It does this despite, and even by means of, the professional conventions it incorporates. This phenomenon is first apparent in Freud's office where the space of the psychoanalytic situation originated. Here the room itself--filled with the antiquities he collected so passionately--met important narcissistic/symbiotic needs. In this sense it encodes a very early, unanalyzed level of relationship with his mother. It is suggested here that these phenomena, visible in Freud's office, are continuing elements of the analytic frame. Because of the character of the analyst and the structure of the relationship, the room becomes a mise-en-scène in which the narcissistic/symbiotic layers of both participants' characters are played out. Failing to recognize this may lead the analyst to treat seemingly regressive behavior as resistance and to intervene at developmental levels the patients has not achieved. Indeed, such "regressions" can only be understood as products of the situation itself. Phenomenologically, the analyst has become the corner in which he took refuge as a child; the corner to which the patient now comes for sanctuary. Because this connection is unconscious it cannot be called an alliance. Rather, it is a fortuitous interlocking that--like mother-child symbiosis--constitutes a matrix for new growth.
分析师在其咨询室中营造的空间，展现了他个性中最原始的元素。尽管这一空间包含专业惯例，甚至正是借助这些惯例，它仍能做到这一点。这种现象最初在弗洛伊德的办公室中显现出来，精神分析情境的空间正是源于此。在那里，房间本身——摆满了他如此热衷收集的古董——满足了重要的自恋/共生需求。从这个意义上说，它编码了与他母亲非常早期的、未经分析的关系层面。这里有人提出，在弗洛伊德办公室中可见的这些现象，是分析框架中持续存在的元素。由于分析师的性格以及关系的结构，房间变成了一个舞台，在这个舞台上，双方参与者性格中的自恋/共生层面得以展现。未能认识到这一点可能会导致分析师将看似退行的行为视为抵抗，并在患者尚未达到的发展层面进行干预。事实上，这种“退行”只能被理解为情境本身的产物。从现象学角度来看，分析师已变成了他小时候寻求庇护的角落；而现在患者前来寻求庇护的正是这个角落。因为这种联系是无意识的，所以不能称之为联盟。相反，它是一种偶然的交织——就像母婴共生一样——构成了新成长的基质。
