Can you push a camel through the eye of a needle?’ Reflections on how the unconscious speaks to us and its clinical implications

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8971203
AutoresFred Busch (0000-0002-1457-3198, PINE, 246 Eliot StreetChestnut Hill, MA 02467‐1447USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen90
Número1
Páginas53-68
Fecha de publicación2009-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe International Journal of Psychoanalysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0020-7578 • E-ISSN: 1745-8315
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1745-8315.2008.00116.x
PMID19245570
OpenAlexW2027534471
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas23

There has been a recent surge of interest in a type of thinking seen in some patients most of the time, and all patients some of the time. In the past it was simply called regressive thinking, but attempts to be more specific have led it to be called by various names, like 'pre-symbolic', 'pre-conceptual' and 'pre-operational'. What these labels attempt to capture is that the patient's thinking, at these times, is without representations and closer to actions. As a clinical phenomena I prefer to use Loewald's term, 'action-language', that is, where words become attempts to bore, seduce, anger, etc. It is different from when words are used to communicate internal states via free association. A case is made for action-language being the primary method by which the unconscious speaks to us in psychoanalytic treatment. This paper explores some of the reasons for this type of thinking, along with the clinical methods to find the thinker where there appears to be none. Distinctions will be made as to the use of the process versus the content, on the goal of interventions as bringing insight versus the capacity for insightfulness, and the model of treatment as leading to transformations in thinking, rather than lifting of repressions. A clinical example is presented to demonstrate these perspectives

Psychoanalysis · Unconscious mind · Medical History and Research · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Optometry