State of mind: becoming one’s ‘self’ through the interaction of subject and object
Liam Bierschenk
The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review June 9, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/01062301.2025.2513714 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that practicing psychoanalysis constitutes a state of mind in which analysts must paradoxically relinquish part of their subjectivity to help patients develop their own mind, through projective identification and the shared dream of transference-countertransference. Proposes that psychoanalysis is a scientific orientation exploring blurred observer-observed boundaries and can be conceived as a science of the experience of mind. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT In this paper, I draw attention to the state of mind of the analyst whilst engaging in psychoanalysis. I suggest that practicing psychoanalysis represents a state of mind. Paradoxically, however, analysts are required to relinquish their degree of subjectivity, to temporarily lose the integrity of their state of mind, in the service of helping the patient develop a mind of their own. This is done through identification with internal objects via projective identification in unconscious phantasy and forms the basis of a shared dream, namely the transference-countertransference. In this regard, I suggest that psychoanalysis constitutes a particular orientation in scientific endeavour exploring the blurring of boundaries between the observer and that which is observed. I link this to theory of mind and theories of consciousness. Psychoanalysis can be conceived of as a science of the experience of mind.