Unformulated experience : from dissociation to imagination in psychoanalysis / Donnel B. Stern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stern, Donnel B.

Series:

Relational perspectives book series ; v. 8.

Relational perspectives book series ; v. 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychoanalysis.

Dissociation (Psychology).

Imagination.

Physical Description:

xv, 293 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Hillsdale, NJ : Analytic Press, 1997.

Summary:

In this powerful and wonderfully accessible meditation on psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, and social constructivism, Donnel Stern explores the relationship between two fundamental kinds of experience: explicit verbal reflection and "unformulated experience, " or experience we have not yet reflected on and put into words. Stern is especially concerned with the process by which we come to formulate the unformulated. It is not an instrumental task he holds, but one that requires openness and curiosity; the result of the process is not accuracy alone, but experience that is deeply felt and fully imagined. From this standpoint, the goal of psychoanalytic work is the freedom to be curious, whereas defense signifies the denial of this freedom. We defend against our fear of what we would think, that is, if we allowed ourselves the freedom to think it.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-282) and index.

ISBN:

0881631418

OCLC:

37141292