Analytic situation

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The analytical physician and the weakened ego of the patient, basing themselves upon the real external world, are to combine against the enemies, the instinc­tual demands of the id, and the moral demands of the super­ego. We form a pact with each other. The patient's sick ego promises us the most complete candor, promises, that is, to put at our disposal all of the material which his self-perception provides; we, on the other hand, assure him of the strictest discretion and put at his service our experience in interpreting material that has been influenced by the unconscious. Our knowledge shall compensate for his ignorance and shall give his ego once more mastery over the lost provinces of his mental life. This pact constitutes the analytic situation.[1]