Introduction to Analytic Listening

Second Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2022-23, 1st Trimester — Fridays, 12:00-1:30pm
Katherine Weissbourd, PhD

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September 30, 2022 — The role of the unconscious in thought processes

What do psychoanalysts mean when they use the term “the unconscious”? Traditionally, analysts used the unconscious to describe what could not enter consciousness because it was repressed. Analysts now add splitting and dissociation to describe these processes. Because analysts focus on expanding the capacity for self-reflection, we think about how and why experiences remain outside of our awareness. We work to create an atmosphere of openness and acceptance, where the “unthought known” can emerge.

Optional Reading

Stern, D.B. (1987) Unformulated Experience and Transference. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 23:484-490

White, W.A. (1915) The Unconscious. Psychoanalytic Review, 2:12-28

Blum, H.P. (2016) Interpretation and Contemporary Reinterpretation. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 36:40-51