The Psychoanalytic Mystic and the Interpretive Word

Abstract

Explicit and implicit psychoanalytic assumptions concerning the analytic cure include the old “insight/interpretation” versus “relation/experience” duality. A synthesis of these two stances, grounded in recognition of the long denied yet central mystical facet of psychoanalysis and the crucial role of words in the “talking cure” that psychoanalysis still is, recognizes these two aspects of psychoanalysis—mystical communication through psychic overlap and interpretive words—as deeply interdependent. Analytic interpretations emerge from the depths of a mystical experience of psychic unity (as well as separateness) resulting from, but also creating, the patient-therapist caesura. Words shape the contour of this closeness-separateness matrix on which psychoanalysis depends. Moreover, the moment of insight into the psychic reality of the other is shown to often depend on crossing the threshold of the nonverbal toward consciousness and language. Constant movement between verbalization and the nonverbal is illustrated with clinical vignettes stressing the interplay of the mystical and the symbolized, of interpretation and intuition.

The Artificial Third: A Broad View of the Effects of Introducing Generative Artificial Intelligence on Psychotherapy

“…Ogden [ 30 ] introduced the important concept of “analytic third,” addressing the “third” as an abstract entity born from the therapist-patient interrelationship. Building on Ogden’s concept, Bar Nes [ 31 ] suggested that the emergence of the “analytic third” is facilitated by a combination of verbal and nonverbal communication, which creates a psychic overlap between therapist and patient. Finally, Lacan [ 32 ], expanding on Freud’s ideas, posited that the “third” symbolizes the overarching structure of language that assimilates into our unconscious, shaping the individual’s identity and interactions with the world.…”