Dreaming in color
Fostering resilience in visually-disabled clients
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22434744 |
|---|---|
| Authors | JoAnn Ponder (0000-0001-9808-0827, IS practice, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-12 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychoanalysis Self and Context (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2472-0038 • E-ISSN: 2472-0046 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24720038.2026.2632241 |
| OpenAlex | W7130366676 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
This presentation will explore the clinical process between a sighted psychotherapist and her blind adult clients through a series of short, but experience-near, case vignettes. Given the limited psychoanalytic literature about the unique issues in the psychotherapeutic treatment of blind and visually impaired individuals, the available literature is augmented with findings from neuroscience, infant observations, developmental research, and disability studies. While eyesight is among the right-brain processes that are central to human communication, development, and connection, infant observations and neuroscience findings indicate that the attuned parent and therapist can find alternate channels of meaningful connection. By far, the greatest problems for blind individuals stem from neglect, isolation, and social oppression. Faced with societal ableism and othering, the blind person may internalize malevolent projections, resulting in debilitating feelings of shame and inadequacy. A relational self-psychological approach to psychotherapy can help to foster relational connections with a shared sense of humanity that concurrently recognizes the patient’s unique subjectivity. In analyzing the forward edge of the transference, the therapist focuses on bolstering healthy development rather than on healing pathology, a strength-based approach consistent with the philosophy and interventions in vocational rehabilitation centers. This self-psychological framework coupled with Bionian field theory can offer clients additional means of dreaming a rich fulfilling future on their clinical journeys toward emotional growth and resilience.
Perception · Psychological resilience · Qualitative research · Disability Rights and Representation · Family and Disability Support Research · Resilience and Mental Health
How Does Analysis Cure?
Gaze bias both reflects and influences preference
In a Different Voice
Cultural competence as a core emphasis of psychoanalytic psychotherapy
The educative aspects of psychoanalysis
Race as an adaptive challenge
Skin color and the therapeutic relationship
The Melancholy of Race
Interpretation as Carrier of Selfobject Functions
Newborns' preference for faces
Racism
Analysis of a Congenitally Blind Musician
The Wrecking Effects of Race and Social Class on Self and Success
Racial Identities, Racial Enactments, and Normative Unconscious Processes
The Relational Unconscious
In the Eye of the Storm
Psychoanalysis and Blindness
Ontological Psychoanalysis in Clinical Practice
Transformations in hallucinosis and the receptivity of the analyst
Othering, identity formation and agency
The Rani of Sirmur
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |