Sándor Ferenczi, the "Introjective Psychoanalyst"

In this paper, the author aims to highlight why Ferenczi is the "introjective psychoanalyst" par excellence in the history of psychoanalysis. Employing the approach to classic psychoanalytic texts adopted in his book Psychoanalysis as a Journey, he explores and discusses a number of crucial theoretical and clinical issues that, throughout Ferenczi's life and works, shaped his development in this direction. In doing so, the author also maintains that this specific characteristic of his analytic commitment is the main reason why today we still look at Ferenczi as a source of inspiration and a contemporary teacher. In his argument, the author focuses particularly on Ferenczi's early and late writings in order to illustrate more clearly the development of his "introjective" analytic style. He leaves for another paper the equally interesting subject of the evolution of Ferenczi's ideas on the phenomena of imitation, incorporation, and identification that follow the process of introjection.