"We have a trove of treasure. These are the case studies, and we need the case studies - these are the flora and fauna of our field. This is how we work. We work by reading case studies and they enrich us. Not only do they enrich the community, but they also enrich us as therapists who write their case studies, and they get to be involved in deeper layers of the actual case study. When we write a case study we are in a better position to understand the patient, and we are in a better position to convey that knowledge to the psychoanalytic community. But as you said, it's a big challenge. Psychodynamic case studies belong to the genre of creative nonfiction. They are like memoirs, biographies, all are based on truth and imagination. This dual form of truth, what actually happened and imagination, is very important to our genre. But we are different from those who write memoirs or biographies, because we have responsibility to our patients and to our community."
Episode Description: Aner views case reports as the Rosetta Stones of our field. We discuss the nature of the 'creative non-fiction' that is inherent in writing about the nuanced, intimate and affectively alive experience that is dynamic treatment. He shares his commitment to maintaining "responsible creativity" in writing about this work and always keeps in mind protecting the dignity of the patient. Aner recognizes the vulnerability that the therapist also undergoes in revealing themselves to the reader and alerts us to "clinical narcissism" - the temptation to exhibit oneself in place of sharing the authenticity of the clinical encounter. He presents the different phases of a deepening treatment along with the understanding that they are inherently schematic and removed from the aliveness of the dyad. He shares vignettes that are understood through a Kleinian, Winnicottian and Relational lens and closes noting that "effective clinical writing is as much an art as a science requiring technical proficiency, creative insight and literary skills."
Our Guest: Aner Govrin, PhD, is a psychoanalyst, philosopher, and clinical psychologist. He is the director of a doctoral program, "Psychoanalysis and Hermeneutics," at The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University. He is a member of the Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis (TAICP) and Editor of the Routledge series Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis. He also conducts workshops on psychodynamic case-study writing and on a range of psychoanalytic topics at the Tavistock, as well as in training programs in the United States, England, China and Israel.
Recommended Readings:
Amir, D. (2016). Studium and punctum in psychoanalytic writing: Reading case studies through Roland Barthes. Psychoanalytic Review, 103(1), 51–65.
Bernstein, S. B. (2024) The Process of Case Writing: A Fourth Pillar of Analytic Training. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 72:267-294
Boesky, D., Barros, E. R., & Chabert, C. (2013). What does the presentation of case material tell us about what actually happened in an analysis and how does it do this? International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94, 1129–1134.
Gabbard, G. O. (2000). Disguise or consent: Problems and recommendations concerning the publication and presentation of clinical material. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 81(6), 1071–1086.
Govrin, A. (2025) Responsible Creativity: Combining Clinical Report and Literary Writing in the Psychodynamic Case Study. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 39:20-39
Govrin, A. (2026). The Craft of the Psychodynamic Case Study: A Practical Guide, Routledge.
Ogden, T. H. (2021). Analytic writing as a form of fiction. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 69(2), 221–223.
Piccioli, E., Rossi, P. L., & Semi, A. A. (Eds.). (1996). Writing in psychoanalysis. Karnac Books.