Vehvilainen2003a
| Vehvilainen2003a | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Vehvilainen2003a |
| Author(s) | Sanna Vehviläinen |
| Title | Preparing and delivering interpretations in psychoanalytic interaction |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, psychoanalytic interaction, interpretation, therapeutic interaction, formulation, confrontation |
| Publisher | |
| Year | 2003 |
| Language | English |
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| Month | |
| Journal | Text & Talk |
| Volume | 23 |
| Number | 4 |
| Pages | 573-606 |
| URL | |
| DOI | 10.1515/text.2003.022 |
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Abstract
The article examines conversational practices through which the analyst and patient in classical psychoanalysis deal with what is understood to be the patient’s unconscious. It focuses on the interpretations of statements with which the analyst gives new meaning to material provided by the patient. In psychoanalysis, consecutive topics introduced by the patient— associations—are seen as providing cues to the unconscious dynamics of his or her mind. Interpretation refers to the process by which the analyst explores links between associations, points to their underlying reasons and, when appropriate, communicates them to the patient. Interpreting is examined from the conversation analytic perspective, as a feature of institutional interaction. Based on analyses of audiotaped psychoanalytic sessions, I show that interpretative talk is woven into the patient’s talk through a particular development, the interpretative trajec- tory. I also examine the conversational devices analysts use at different stages of this trajectory in order to present their interpretative contributions as grounded in the patient’s own associations. In this step-by-step manner, the analyst builds a case for the interpretation by invoking a puzzle: an accountable or enigmatic issue. The interpretation, then, presents a possible way of dealing with this puzzle.
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