Elisabeth Severn, mauvais génie de Ferenczi ou analysante en devenir analyste ?

Abstract

Long known under the pseudonym “R.N.,” the main figure in Ferenczi’s
Clinical Diary, Elisabeth Severn played an important role in Ferenczi’s
analytic development. Since the suffering that led her to Ferenczi’s couch
had previously made her into an inspired psychotherapist, Severn cannot be
reduced to the savagely abused child that she also was. It was this woman,
whom Ferenczi first met in 1924, who made Ferenczi aware of the problematic
of post-traumatic narcissistic splitting and imposed on him the “second
choice” of mutual analysis. Through his work with her, Ferenczi hoped to
grasp what constitutes a genuine termination of the analytic process, in an
analysis that he hoped would prove to be instructive.