Time, reconstruction and psychic reality

This paper illustrates certain relationships between the concepts of time, reconstruction and psychic reality as they appear in the clinical situation. A case example introduces the literature concerning the difficulty of knowing over time "what actually happened." Arlow's model of the two projectors, which has been used to describe psychic reality, is extended from a developmental point of view. Two further case examples then illustrate how attention to the patient's unique psychic reality can lead to different reconstructive problems and interventions. The two case examples raise certain questions about the nature of early experience and the role of external reality. The conclusion takes a broader view of the relationships between time, reconstruction and psychic reality utilizing two examples from contemporary Western literature.