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What Is Resistance Time?

Resistance is a fundamental concept of psychoanalysis, according to the American Psychoanalytic Association. Resistance time varies depending on the psychological and emotional conditions of a particular patient. The notion of resistance and its relation to time is, unarguably, essential for understanding the psychoanalytic process.

  1. Transference

    • Resistance works in concert with transference, according to the APSA. Transference entails patients who react to life situations based upon response patterns predetermined in our subconscious. The distinction between transference and resistance is trauma. A patient may become conscious of his tendency to transfer learned patterns of behavior onto current events, but specific traumas, uncovered in the psychoanalytic process, will engage the patient's instinct to resist facing the old pain.

    Living

    • The strength of a patient's resistance to face old traumas results from a reliving of the experience. Because the patient has not sufficiently faced the consequences of buried traumas, he is more likely to re-experience -- or relive -- the emotion of the trauma when facing it in the present. Working through repressed traumas on a conscious level, according to A Guide to Psychology, is the only way to overcome the impact the old pain has on his current life.

    Avoidance

    • Avoidance of certain subject matters or redirection of conversation is a clear indication to the psychoanalyst that sessions must progress by probing further in the direction the patient would like to avoid. A patient's avoidance may also take the form of remaining silent when posed with certain questions or wishing to quit therapy sessions. Effective psychotherapy may require daily sessions to allow for a lengthy and delicate probe into the thoughts and emotions the patient has under guard. Treatments to combat avoidance involve question and answer sessions between the psychoanalyst and patient, dream interpretation and allowing a patient to freely associate on the meaning of his thoughts or feelings.

    Uncertainty

    • Every patient will resist confronting old traumas for different lengths of time. Twelve to 20 one-hour sessions are the average length of time any one person will spend with a psychoanalyst -- although more frequent visits or longer treatment periods may be necessary. Regardless, daily sessions -- or continual visits -- with a psychoanalyst do not guarantee a quicker confrontation of subconscious events. The length of time a patient remains resistant to facing painful memories is dependent solely upon the patient. The patient himself, according to A Guide to Psychology, must want to face his problems and change on his own.

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