Reflections on Gifts in the Therapeutic Setting: The Gift from Patient to Therapist

Since Freud’s time, psychoanalytically oriented therapists have been wary of accepting gifts from patients, although they have done so in some circumstances within the sanctum of their offices. After providing a working definition of the word “gift” for the purposes of this clinical discussion, the article reviews the relevant literature on the subject. The author presents clinical material in which he describes how gifts were presented by patients within the context of their treatment processes. The article concludes with the author s attempt to define some of the variables that affect the response of the therapist to a patient’s gift, and expounds on those variables in terms of their influence on technique.