In search of the elusive nature of clinical psychoanalytic theory.

Full Abstract

Two case vignettes illustrating different ways of listening to clinical material are presented. The author discusses some limitations of clinical psychoanalytic theory that stem from the fact that primary unconscious processes are, by their very nature, impossible to describe in a language regulated by secondary processes. Hegelian dialectics, first addressed in psychoanalysis by Lacan and later elaborated in the work of Green, as well as the use of paradox by Winnicott and the formalistic approaches of Matte Blanco and Bion, are briefly reviewed as alternative formulas. As psychoanalysts, we are condemned to live with doubt, and neither clinical theories nor metapsychology offer escape from this reality.

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Author information

Author/s: Rey de Castro, Alvaro (A);

Affiliation: arey(-atsign-)amauta.rcp.net.pe

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Case Reports; Journal Article

Journal: The Psychoanalytic quarterly (Psychoanal Q), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 72 (issue 1) : pp 131-55

Dates: Created 2003/03/05; Completed 2003/04/18; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12616870, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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