The rules and frames of the psychoanalytic situation.

Classical psychoanalytic theory and technique are still coherent, flexible, viable, and developing. But there is a need to develop an interactional theory which would be compatible with intrapsychic theory. One approach, utilizing a relativistic view of social realities, is "frame analysis," the study of the rules (which operate primarily outside of awareness) delimiting and governing specific social interactions. Applied to the analytic situation, it is a useful way to analyze the transactions. A clinical vignette is presented for purposes of illustration.