Therapeutic Action: An Earnest Plea for Irony by Jonathan Lear

Author:Jonathan Lear
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Tags: Psychology, Fitness & Dieting, General, Health, Medical Books, Psychology & Counseling, Psychoanalysis
Publisher: Karnac Books
Published: 2003-09-01T23:00:00+00:00

I said, “Maybe that’s why.”

“Yes, you’re the doctor,” he replied. “Why haven’t you cured me? I’ve been waiting for you to fix me.”

This was the moment when Mr. A. experienced the full intensity of his hostility toward me in the waning months of the analysis.19

In the context of this analysis, that simple remark—“Maybe that’s why”—is a perfect interpretation. It refers Mr. A. back to his own just-uttered and sincerely felt words, and it offers him an invitation to bring out the irony. When Mr. A. said, “You haven’t done anything but been here,” he meant it as a compliment. He was trying to say, “I’ve got no grounds for complaint; you’ve always been there for me.” This is the voice of pretense, the voice of the ego. Dr. L.’s simple interpretation turns this meaning on its head. It brings to Mr. A.’s attention that the very same words, the ones he has just uttered so sincerely, can also be the voice of complaint, “You haven’t done anything but been here!” In effect, Dr. L.’s interpretation highlights the voice of aspiration, and therefore of complaint: “I’m still full of wishes for a special relationship with you, one in which you effect a magical cure, and all you’ve ever done is sit there!”

By referring him back to his own words, Dr. L. puts Mr. A. in a position where he can see for himself the distance between his pretense and his aspirations. He can now see that while he would like to be a grateful and successful analysand, and to some extent he is, he would also like that to be the whole truth, and that it is not. He is also angry and disappointed that his wishes have not been gratified. There are things he wanted he did not get, the analysis is about to be over, it’s clear now he’ll never get it, and he’s angry about that, though he is unconscious of his anger, just as he is unconscious of his wishes. But what is more striking is that the very words that he uses to express his gratitude are used by him dynamically to cover over his anger, an anger that would be expressed with the very same words!

Here one can see quite clearly that it is constitutional of Mr. A.’s neurosis that he cannot see the irony of his own words. For if the words “You haven’t done anything but been here” are going to serve to express his gratitude and cover over his anger, then it is crucial that he not see that his words might also be used to express his anger. As soon as Mr. A. begins to grasp that “You haven’t done anything but been here” might also be used by him to express his anger, then those words start to lose their ability to cover up the anger. This is what it is for the analysand to begin to appreciate the irony of his own remarks.

The analyst said simply, “Maybe that’s why.”

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