Reik's theory of psychoanalytic listening
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19422734 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kyle Arnold (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 754-765 |
| Publication date | 2006-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychoanalytic Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0736-9735 • E-ISSN: 1939-1331 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/0736-9735.23.4.754 |
| OpenAlex | W2078670046 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 1 |
Long Island University, Brooklyn CenterThe present article attempts to systematize Reik’s theory of psychoanalyticlistening through a detailed reading of Listening with the Third Ear. AlthoughReik’s work anticipated current debates on intersubjectivity, countertransfer-ence, and hermeneutics, it is rarely cited in contemporary literature. This articlebegins to lay the foundation for assessing Reik’s contributions to psychoanalysisby clarifying his views. Reik’s theory is organized around an emphasis onsequencing. Psychoanalytic listening has a natural sequence that begins withunconscious conjectures about patient’s dynamics and ends with conscious caseformulations. Psychoanalytic conjectures crystallize out of the intersubjective,reciprocal illumination of the therapist’s and patient’s unconscious minds.Psychotherapists understand patients most deeply by becoming conscious oftheir subjective reactions to patients and rigorously examining these reactions.Keywords: countertransference, intersubjectivity, listening, formulationFor Theodor Reik, psychoanalysis is a unique discipline. Although it has affinities to boththe natural sciences and the humanities, it is distinguished by a special kind of listening:what Reik calls “listening with the third ear.” In his book of the same title, Reik (1948)contrasts conscious comprehension of psychoanalytic data with the clinician’s initialunconscious conjectures that are later elaborated into systematic comprehension. The thirdear is the unconscious capacity to decipher the psychological clues that inspire psycho-analytic conjectures. According to Reik, both conjecture and comprehension are crucial.However, the essence of psychoanalytic understanding is the third ear.Reik’s classic Listening with the Third Ear (1948) is one of the great unexaminedpsychoanalytic texts. The ideas Reik presents within it intersect considerably with currentdebates on intersubjectivity, countertransference, and hermeneutics, while also pursuingconcerns rarely broached in North American psychoanalytic discourse, such as the role oftiming in analytic listening. However, Listening with the Third Ear is rarely cited in thecontemporary literature and has largely been forgotten by the psychoanalytic community
Active listening · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Psychoanalysis and Social Critique · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
| Citations per year | 0.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2024 (19) |
| Highly cited | No |