ONCE MORE ONTO THE COUCH: CONSCIOUSNESS AND PRECONSCIOUS DEFENSES IN PSYCHOANALYSIS

Use of the couch in the analytic situation has a unique impact on the consciousness of both participants in the process. The hypnagogic state of the supine analysand and its resonance with the empathic reverie of the unseen analyst are explored, with a focus not on the contents of analysts ’ countertransferential associations, but on the diverse but converging modes in which they represent their patients ’ verbal productions. A clinical example is presented to illustrate the interplay between the patient’s and the analyst’s imaginations, an understanding of which does away with the false dichotomy between defense analysis and empathic responsiveness. The importance of a patient’s conscious and preconscious defenses in the here-and-now transference (suppression, “marginalization, ” disavowal, negation) is also noted, as is the relation of these defenses to unconscious secondary repression. T here has been much debate in the last few years about what it isthat makes for an analysis. Is there a difference between analysis and other therapeutic modalities? For that matter, is there a difference between the analytic encounter between two individuals and the inter-personal transactions of everyday life? How important is the frequency of sessions? And how necessary and useful is the use of the couch—of the supine posture? (see Moraitis 1995). In an expression of our “anxiety of influence ” (Bloom 1973), and of an inevitable rebellion against our mentors, the current generation’s tendency has been to democratize clinical analysis along with its institutions. As a result