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Updated: May 26, 2026
05:15
The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Things in words: Ferenczi and language.
1Department of Postgraduate Studies in Social Memory, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. jogondar@uol.com.br
American Journal of Psychoanalysis
|December 7, 2011
Summary
This study explores the sensitive and magical use of language by psychoanalytic patients. It offers a constructive, non-pathologizing view of their symbolic and metaphorical capacities.
Area of Science:
- Psychoanalysis
- Linguistics
- Psychology
Background:
- Sandor Ferenczi's concept of mimesis between words and things.
- Emphasis on the sensitive and magical dimensions of language in psychoanalysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine contemporary patients' use of language constructively.
- To avoid pathologizing patients' symbolic and metaphorical abilities.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of patient language.
- Psychoanalytic theoretical framework.
Main Results:
- Identified non-pathologizing patterns in patient language use.
- Highlighted the constructive potential in symbolic expression.
Conclusions:
- Contemporary patients' language use can be understood beyond deficiency.
- A constructive approach validates patients' unique symbolic and metaphorical expressions.
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