Angst

Fear is the central affect of any therapeutic relationship. Patient and therapist must deal with it if their work is to have any meaning. Anxiety can threaten the therapeutic relationship destructively, but can also give it constructive meaning. The author approaches the phenomenon of fear by describing the development of theory from Freud via the Kleinian tradition to the theory of representation and mentalisation as well as infant and attachment research. She then supplements the theory with experience from therapeutic practice by discussing the psychopathology and typology of anxiety disorders, the function of fear in transference and countertransference, and the relationship between fear and courage. A symptom-oriented typology is complemented by a psychodynamic view of central anxiety situations in therapeutic practice.