The Third Position: Reflections about the Internal Analytic Working Process

Zwiebel, Ralf

doi:10.1002/j.2167-4086.2004.tb00158.x

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In the discursive matrices that make up the self‐states of individual humans, the position taken by Komar and Melamid in When Elephants Paint may be like the ‘third’ position taken by an analyst that most analysts agree exists but, nevertheless, disagree as to its constitution (Britton 1989, 2004; Ogden 1994; Schoenhals 1996; Benjamin 2004; Green 2004; Hanly 2004; Zwiebel 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elephants painting? Selfness and the emergence of self states as illustrated in conceptual art

Horne

2009

J Analytical Psychology

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The traditional view of the self is that of a singular entity whose ground is an inherent function of the mind. The more recent conception of the self is moving toward the social constructionist concept that its ground is the discourses of the particular culture into which one is born. These two divergent views have created an irresolvable binary of inner/outer that limits their explanatory power. To resolve this dilemma I suggest that the abstract noun 'selfness', indicating a general state, should replace the representational noun 'self', that indicates a specific state. I will propose that 'selfness' is indeed the 'ground' from which our unique self states emerge. I will illustrate this with examples from conceptual art and will discuss its relevance to analytic theory and treatment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elephants painting? Selfness and the emergence of self states as illustrated in conceptual art

Horne

2009

J Analytical Psychology

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“…These issues are also highly relevant to psychiatrists, when in the doctor-patient dyad the drug or the diagnosis may act as a symbolic 'third object' with personality disordered patients during emotionally charged consultations (Martean and Evans, 2014). Group analysis allows access to an actual triad in the form of three (and more) individuals being present, and this gives the potential for 'triadification' (Zweibel, 2004) processes, which are not possible in psychoanalysis. Hence although development of 'triangular space' may occur via psychoanalysis or group analysis, in the former this may be envisaged as developing via thirdness and the latter as a result of triadification as well as thirdness (the 'group analytic third' (Beck, 2006)).…”

Section: Forms Of Threeness: Triads Trianglulation and The Thirdmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Triangle and the Eye inside the Circle: Dyadic and Triadic Dynamics in the Group

Martean¹

2014

Group Analysis

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Patients make first contact with group analysts in a dyadic relationship and the entry into the group of six to eight can be perceived as a psychic leap across a wide chasm. In this article the transition from dyad to the group is conceptualized as equivalent to achieving a triadic capacity for relatedness. A central consideration will be of the maturation from predominantly 'linear' relating and thinking (n=2) to stable triangular configurations involving 'threeness' and 'thirdness', with the development of a triangular space, which represents reflective thinking and the capacity to observe and be observed. The triangular potential is opposed by destructive processes, which cause instability and collapse of triangular configurations, with a regression towards 'two-dimensional' group structures. The role of the triangle and the key importance of the 'third eye' will be conceptualized in terms of a stable parental coupling which provides a corrective component of the experience for group members. The symbol of a triangle inside a circle is used to represent the combining of male and female elements in the group, to form a combined holding, containing but also development promoting 'parental relationship' function.

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“…Consequently, by opening space for symbolic functioning, the Law of the Father within analytic space is established (Lacan , ), and the paternal third supplements and complements the unconscious early mother–child pair by containing the oedipal triangle and facilitating symbolic experience (Britton ). This requires the analyst to be capable of more developed symbolic thinking, as well as of observing without understanding; the analyst must have well‐established capacities for triangulation (Zweibel ) and the self‐containment necessary to bear his/her own experiences without understanding them (Caper ). In short, one must be able to skillfully employ one's analytic mind to transform weakly symbolized material into interpretable or simply bearable form (Diamond ).…”

Section: Making Room For the Banished Fathermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Missing Father Function in Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique: The Analyst’s Internal Couple and Maturing Intimacy

Diamond¹

2017

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

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This paper argues that recovering the "missing" paternal function in analytic space is essential for the patient's achievement of mature object relations. Emerging from the helpless infant's contact with primary caregivers, mature intimacy rests on establishing healthy triadic functioning based on an infant-with-mother-and-father. Despite a maternocentric bias in contemporary clinical theory, the emergence of triangularity and the inclusion of the paternal third as a separating element is vital in the analytic dyad. Effective technique requires the analyst's balanced interplay between the paternal, investigative and the maternal, maximally receptive modes of functioning-the good enough analytic couple within the analyst-to serve as the separating element that procreatively fertilizes the capacity for intimacy with a differentiated other. A clinical example illustrates how treatment is limited when the paternal function is minimized within more collusive, unconsciously symbiotic dyads.

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The Third Position: Reflections about the Internal Analytic Working Process

Cited by 17 publications

References 3 publications

Elephants painting? Selfness and the emergence of self states as illustrated in conceptual art

Elephants painting? Selfness and the emergence of self states as illustrated in conceptual art

The Triangle and the Eye inside the Circle: Dyadic and Triadic Dynamics in the Group

The Missing Father Function in Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique: The Analyst’s Internal Couple and Maturing Intimacy

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