Good vibrations: Analytic process as coupled oscillations

• Published in: International journal of psychoanalysis Vol. 90; no. 5; pp. 983 - 1007
• Main Author: Galatzer-Levy, Robert M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Routledge 01.10.2009; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Institute of Psychoanalysis (British); Blackwell; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Chaos theory; coupled oscillators; Dreams - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders - therapy; metapsychology; Models, Theoretical; non-linear dynamics; Nonlinear Dynamics; Professional-Patient Relations; Psychoanalysis; Psychoanalysis - methods; Psychoanalytic cure; Psychoanalytic Theory; Psychoanalytic Therapy - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; System theory; therapeutic action; therapeutic alliance; transference; Transference (Psychology); Chaos; Human; chaos theory; Therapeutic process; Transference countertransference; Coupled oscillator; Vibration; Metapsychology; Theory; research; Psychoanalytic cure; therapeutic action; transference; Treatment; Therapeutic alliance; coupled oscillators; non-linear dynamics; Mathematical model; Mechanism of action
• ISSN: 0020-7578; 1745-8315
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-8315.2009.00188.x

This paper develops a new model for the action of psychoanalysis based on concepts from non-linear dynamics (chaos theory and complexity theory). It shows that the analyst-analysand couple may be conceptualized as a new configuration with its own properties that promote complex development in both members of the couple. These developments are an emergent result of the formation of the analyst-analysand couple and are significantly independent of the particular content of the manifest interaction of the couple. The well-studied phenomena of coupled oscillators suggest the specific features of the analysand-analyst interaction that are likely to be most important in conceptualizing analytic change. The model has substantial clinical applications since efforts to arrange for a coupled oscillator system that is central to it are distinct from many of the traditional considerations associated with creating an analytic situation.