Bi‐ocularity, the functioning mind of the psychoanalyst1. (20th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Birksted‐Breen, Dana
• Is Part Of: International journal of psychoanalysis. Volume 97:Number 1(2016:Feb.)
• Page Start: 25
• Page End: 40
• Publication Date: 2016-02-20
• Subjects: containment -- reverie -- unconscious -- phantasy -- unrepresented -- 'here and now' -- setting -- temporality -- binocular vision -- symbolization -- Bion -- figurability; Psychoanalysis -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1111/1745-8315.12435
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7578

Abstract

Translations of summary: With the use of clinical material the author discusses the importance of a 'bi‐ocular' mode of attentiveness, one pole of which rests on the psychic process of reverie and the other on 'analysing'. This is necessary to foster the development of a psychic space in which experiences which were 'in the shadow' or unrepresented, can come to the fore and be given shape first pictorially and later ideationally. This requires staying with and fostering the ambiguity of the different times and spaces without collapsing them into the clear, logical and explanatory. It requires the psychoanalyst to make space for that which is 'other', other than just apparently here and now, and other than just 'you and me', while maintaining the analytic 'fire' in a situation in which there is 'no model in real life', a place maximally geared to that which is not apparent.