Beyond semantics: a clinical and theoretical study of isolation

Theories of Freud, Piaget, Fonagy and Kristeva have been drawn on to argue that the concept of isolation should not be restricted to a delimited defence mechanism associated with obsessional/compulsive neurosis, as is the usual psychoanalytic conception. From a semiological point of view isolation may be seen as a disturbance of the relationship between signifier and the signified embracing affective communication ranging from the most primitive bodily expression via sound and intonation to a semantic level where affects are expressed through the content of words and ideas. As affects isolated on a pre-verbal level are deprived of expression on a semantic-symbolic level, they are not likely to be modified by content of interpretations alone. They can only be fully activated and brought into therapeutic dialogue through the quality of the speech sound of the analyst.