Bi-ocularity, the functioning mind of the psychoanalyst.

Area of Science:

• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Clinical psychoanalytic practice requires specific attentional modes.
• Unrepresented or 'shadow' experiences pose challenges in therapy.
• Therapeutic space must accommodate ambiguity and the 'other'.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the importance of a 'bi-ocular' mode of attentiveness in psychoanalysis.
• To explore how this mode fosters a psychic space for unrepresented experiences.
• To emphasize the need to embrace ambiguity in the analytic setting.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing clinical material to illustrate theoretical concepts.
• Describing the psychoanalytic process involving reverie and analysis.
• Focusing on the analyst's role in maintaining an open, non-reductive stance.

Main Results:

• A 'bi-ocular' attentiveness, balancing reverie and analysis, is crucial.
• This approach creates a psychic space for 'shadow' experiences to emerge.
• Embracing ambiguity allows for pictorial and ideational representation of difficult material.

Conclusions:

• The psychoanalytic setting must accommodate 'otherness' beyond the immediate and the dyadic.
• Maintaining analytic intensity without relying on real-life models is key.
• This method facilitates the emergence and processing of non-apparent psychic material.