Pseudoquotes in Psychoanalytic Interventions

Abstract

The syntactical structure of any psychoanalytic intervention is itself overdetermined. As such, when the syntax of an analyst's intervention seems out of the ordinay, it may mark a moment of particular difficulty. One syntactical form used frequently by psychoanalysts is a pseudoquote. In this form, the analyst speaks for the patient, uses the pronoun “I,” as though he were, for the moment, the voice of the patient. Three such interventions are presented here from audio-recorded material. The interventions are examined in context, and some probable determinants are sketched. These determinants cluster around wishes and fears associated with “the difficult moment of self-other relatedness.” This somewhat empirical portion of the paper is followed by a theoretical discussion in which the development of thought, speech, and the ego are related to the question of whether pseudoquotes actually serve the psychoanalytic process.

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