Intersubjectivity and the creation of meaning in the analytic process

J Anal Psychol. 2014 Nov;59(5):624-640. doi: 10.1111/1468-5922.12112.

Abstract

By means of a clinical illustration, the author describes how the intersubjective exchanges involved in an analytic process facilitate the representation of affects and memories which have been buried in the unconscious or indeed have never been available to consciousness. As a result of projective identificatory processes in the analytic relationship, in this example the analyst falls into a situation of helplessness which connects with his own traumatic experiences. Then he gets into a formal regression of the ego and responds with a so-to-speak hallucinatory reaction-an internal image which enables him to keep the analytic process on track and, later on, to construct an early traumatic experience of the analysand.

Keywords: Construction; Darstellbarkeit [Erfahrbarkeit / RW]; Intersubjectivité; Intersubjektivität; Konstruktion [Rekonstruktion / RW]; Processus analytique; Représentabilité; Traumatisme précoce; analytic process; analytischer Prozeß; construcción; construction; costruzione; early trauma; frühes Trauma; intersoggettività; intersubjectivity; intersubjetividad; proceso analítico; processo analitico; rappresentabilità; representability; representación; trauma precoce; trauma temprano; аналитический процесс; интерсубъективность; конструкция; ранняя травма; репрезентативность.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Affect
  • Ego
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory
  • Psychoanalysis / methods*
  • Unconscious, Psychology*