Uncanny phenomena in psychotherapy

More about the book

Even though Freud was secretly interested in apparent thought transference he was very wary about 'uncanny' phenomena. Ever since, experiences that involve experiences the loss of boundary between self and others, timelessness; or apparent telepathic knowledge have been associated with psychotic states or regressive fantasy, within psychoanalytic theory. Although Jung developed other theories about acausal, synchronistic occurrences and viewed the unconscious as intelligent, communicative and partly collective, psychoanalysis still lacks non-pathologising language with which to discuss these common occurrences. Even post-modern theorists like Thomas Ogden and Wilfred Bion who grapple with these ideas are hampered by the Cartesian assumptions about reality, fantasy, time, space, mind, consciousness and unconsciousness on which psychoanalysis is based. The aim of the book is to bring a phenomenological light to bear on practitioners experiences and understandings of these phenomena and well as explore the contradictory assumptions underlying psychoanalytic theory with the aim of enabling practitioners to respond more thoughtfully to phenomena that have potential for healing.