Excursus on psychotherapy (take two)

Lacan again.

It has been alleged that in an effort to make more money, Lacan qua charlatan analyst introduced the short session, which is, as it sounds, the conducting of short sessions with patients. Instead of the usual hour—really 45 or 50 minutes—Lacan might do 15 minutes, say.

Some would judge this a serious breach of therapeutic ethics. After all, if the patient pays for the hour, isn't he entitled to the hour? Not always, replies Lacan, and here's the rationale: there may be some sessions in which the analyst or patient has landed on a crucial insight, therefore any further communication may only muddy waters, occluding the insight. In such cases, it's perfectly fine to have a short session, argues Lacan.

As legend has it, Lacan and his patients arrived at early crucial insights often—too often—so often that it would appear to any outsider that the man was making a money-grab.

Lacan's personal ethics aside, there is still the question of whether in some instances it might be better to shorten a session if in fact the patient and the therapist have arrived at the point where they needed to be. It would seem if this is to be done, it ought to be done rarely, but there does appear to be sound justification for it, sometimes.