The analyst's narrative function: Inventing a possibility.

Area of Science:

• Psychoanalysis
• Child Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Explores a specific psychic function observed in psychoanalytic practice with children.
• Focuses on the analyst's capacity for reverie, termed the narrative function, derived from function α.

Observation:

• Presents two clinical cases illustrating the development of the narrative function.
• Addresses patients' difficulties with symbolization and representation, including early trauma and autistic disorder.

Findings:

• The analyst's narrative function facilitated representation for a patient with early, unrepresentable trauma, transforming nightmares into 'dreamable' dreams.
• In autistic disorder, the narrative function provided meaning to stereotyped play, fostering subjectivity and a sense of alterity.
• This function aided in working through trauma and establishing psychic fabric by enabling shared representations.

Implications:

• Highlights the crucial role of the analyst's narrative capacity in treating complex childhood psychological issues.
• Suggests that the narrative function is key to integrating traumatic experiences and developing psychic structure.
• Emphasizes the potential of narrative in psychoanalytic work with children facing symbolic and representational deficits.