Analytic attitude – focus or embodiment? Subtle communications in the transference/countertransference relationship

Bibliographic Data

ID8983363
AuthorsSusanna Wright (0009-0005-8638-3448, London, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume65
Issue3
Pages538-557
Publication date2020-05-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Analytical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8774 • E-ISSN: 1465-5922
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-5922.12599
PMID32406942
OpenAlexW3025935104
LanguageEN
References cited8

The paper considers a 'befallment' that occurred in the course of analysis at a time when the focus of work was too much at a conscious level, dissociated from the patient's embodied and visceral depths. A rigidly held attitude of focal attention is considered as potentially a defence against embodied experiences of overwhelm and vulnerability that may haunt shadowy realms which remain unlit by the narrow beam of conscious awareness. Rather as a dream drifts in from the unconscious, an enactment by the analyst brought neglected aspects of the transference and countertransference relationship into the room. Later, the patient's own dreaming mind offered images that suggested an underlying dynamic. These subtle communications, alongside the patient's attitude toward the analyst's lapse, are considered as factors in the achievement of greater embodied integration. The analyst's difficulty in arriving at a formulation of such events is discussed, along with the necessity of holding such 'befallments' in mind over long periods of time before any explanation can be adumbrated

Aesthetics · Cognitive psychology · Countertransference · Dream · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Unconscious mind · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access