The psychodynamics of the patient's active episodes

The phenomenon of the patient as active change agent is a critically import ant, but new and understudied one. This paper attempts to explore and to il lustrate with clinical examples the psychodynamic foundations of the patien t's activity. The concept of an "active episode" on the part of the patient is introduced and defined The paper illustrates the ways that active episo des of self-change on the part of the patient can determine the outcome of psychoanalytic therapy.