Loss and memorialization

Drawing upon Dana Birksted-Breen's work on temporality, and the contrast which she draws between linear, developmental time, seen as a series of unchanging moments, and bidirectional, process time, which is retranscribed again and again (Birksted-Breen [2003] 2016. "Time and the Apres-Coup." In The Work of Psychoanalysis, edited by D. Birksted-Breen, 139-157. London: Routledge.), the author considers the role of unchanging elements in mental life. She argues that these elements are a form of memorialization, which defends against loss. Incorporated throughout life, they have a core of concrete, sensory experience but evoke larger scenes that are not entirely sensory. The author explores the operation of two kinds of memorial tokens: screen memories, which remain inalterable, and recurrent dreams whose unchanging structure serves as a frame in which change can take place. In analysis, both of these preserve memories of the analytic process and re-evoke the presence of the analyst. Both are particularly prominent at termination, when they function both as markers of approaching termination and as defenses against the loss of the analyst. Two brief clinical examples from patients who are nearing termination Illustrate these points.