The edge of chaos: A nonlinear view of psychoanalytic technique

Abstract

The field of nonlinear dynamics (or chaos theory) provides ways to expand concepts of psychoanalytic process that have implications for the technique of psychoanalysis. This paper describes how concepts of “the edge of chaos,” emergence, attractors, and coupled oscillators can help shape analytic technique resulting in an approach to doing analysis which is at the same time freer and more firmly based in an enlarged understanding of the ways in which psychoanalysis works than some current recommendation about technique. Illustrations from a lengthy analysis of an analysand with obsessive‐compulsive disorder show this approach in action.

Le bord du chaos : une vue non linéaire de la technique psychanalytique

Le champ de la dynamique non linéaire (ou théorie du chaos) fournit des moyens permettant d’élargir les concepts du processus psychanalytique et leurs implications sur la technique psychanalytique. L'auteur de cet article décrit comment les concepts de « bord du chaos », d’émergence, d'attracteurs et d'oscillateurs couplés, peuvent contribuer à forger une technique analytique se traduisant par une approche de l'analyse à la fois plus libre et plus fermement ancré dans une compréhension élargie de la façon dont la psychanalyse opère que ne le sont certaines des recommandations actuelles concernant la technique. Des extraits d'une analyse au long cours d'un patient présentant des troubles obsessionnels compulsifs viendront illustrer ce type d'approche.

Der Rand des Chaos: eine nicht‐lineare Sichtweise der psychoanalytischen Technik

Das Feld der nicht‐linearen Dynamik (oder Chaos‐Theorie) hält Möglichkeiten bereit, Konzepte des psychoanalytischen Prozesses weiterzuentwickeln, die Implikationen für die Technik der Psychoanalyse besitzen. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt, dass Konzepte wie „Rand des Chaos“, Emergenz, Attraktoren und gekoppelte Oszillatoren zur Herausbildung einer analytischen Technik beitragen können, die es ermöglicht, die Analyse auf eine Weise zu praktizieren, die freier ist als die heutigen behandlungstechnischen Empfehlungen und gleichzeitig fester auf einem erweiterten Verständnis ihrer Wirkung gründet. Illustriert wird dieses Vorgehen anhand der langjährigen Analyse eines Patienten mit einer Zwangsstörung.

Il bordo del caos: una prospettiva non lineare di tecnica psicoanalitica

Nel campo delle dinamiche non lineari (o teoria del caos) si aprono possibilità di espandere le concezioni del processo analitico, che hanno notevoli implicazioni per la teoria della tecnica psicoanalitica. Questo lavoro descrive come i concetti di “bordo del caos”, emergenza, attrattori, e oscillatori accoppiati possano essere utili nel dare forma alla tecnica psicoanalitica, esitando in un approccio alla cura che è più libero e, al contempo, saldamente ancorato a una più ampia comprensione di come funziona la psicoanalisi, di quanto lo siano alcune tecniche attualmente proposte. Per illustrare questo approccio in vivo, si utilizzano alcuni passaggi della lunga analisi di un paziente con un disordine ossessivo‐compulsivo.

El borde del caos: una visión no lineal de la técnica psicoanalítica

El campo de la dinámica no lineal (de la teoría del caos) brinda posibilidades de expandir conceptos del proceso psicoanalítico que tienen implicancias técnicas. Este trabajo describe cómo los conceptos de “borde del caos”, emergencia, atractor y oscilador acoplado pueden ayudar a dar forma a la teoría analítica, dando lugar, así, a una manera de hacer psicoanálisis más libre y, a la vez, más sólidamente basada en una comprensión ampliada de las modalidades de funcionamiento del psicoanálisis que algunas de las recomendaciones técnicas actuales. Ejemplos tomados de un análisis prolongado de un paciente con un trastorno obsesivo‐compulsivo muestran este enfoque en acción.

Key words:

• chaos theory
• nonlinear dynamical systems theory
• technique
• edge of chaos

Notes

1. I am not arguing that all of psychoanalytic thinking derived from this worldview. Insofar as psychoanalytic conceptualizations are hermeneutic they do not have a traditionally scientific worldview and, in particular, do not have a linear worldview.

2. Just as in reading Freud today it is possible to recognize the centrality of hermeneutic method to his work, it is possible to read Freud as anticipating some of the most exciting elements of nonlinear dynamics. For example, in chapter 7 of the Interpretation of Dreams, following ideas first laid out in On Aphasia Freud brilliantly anticipates network theory which would not see its full development until almost a century later. Such retrospective readings of Freud would be misleading if they lead to a view that Freud was not highly linear in his worldview. In a sense this becomes most evident in his later writings when he has developed multiple theories of mental function. In general, he attempts to show how each theory separately is useful but does not attempt to integrate them into a single conceptualization since they cannot fit together in a linear fashion.

3. A perceptive editorial reader observed that the idea of attractors described here seems to include little about the person who creates, evaluates, and experiences (albeit indirectly) them. This objection could be extended to include the objection that although the mechanisms involved are somewhat different from those of classical analysis, the nonlinear viewpoint appears to be fundamentally mechanistic and lacking in a hermeneutic dimension.

This valid objection should be thought of in the context of the whole discussion of the role of psychoanalytic theories, from drive theory to contemporary neuroscience, in all of which the step from underlying non‐psychological process to subjectivity is hard or impossible to trace. (This difficulty appears to be greater for conceptual frameworks like nonlinear dynamics that refer to abstract concepts with unfamiliar names. But I contend that the problem is even greater when the abstract concepts are disguised by seemingly familiar names like ‘self,’ ‘object’ or ‘person.’) In other words, I think that the ideas presented here are not much worse in this regard, than most generalizing psychoanalytic thinking and are subject to similar limitations to those lines of inquiry.

Elsewhere (Cohler and Galatzer‐Levy, 2007), I have argued that nonlinear thinking provides a potential bridge between subjectivity and psychoanalytic theorizing by virtue of its recognition that the configurations that matter in psychoanalysis are manifest in multiple ways and that, in particular, they are manifest in narratives. When we talk about the structure and configuration of narratives we abstract from their specifics structures whose dynamics are attractors. The language of nonlinear dynamics seems to include a natural bridge between subjectivity and narrative on one hand and mechanisms, whether abstract or neuroscientific on the other. Obviously, the elaboration of these ideas take us beyond the scope of this paper. Here I would only argue that the nonlinear viewpoint can aid psychoanalytic practice.

4. The work described here is presented with the patient's permission. Identifying details have been removed. The treatment lasted approximately two decades during which the patient was seen with varying frequency (from 2 to 4 times each week) and the couch was used during most of it.

5. Another editorial reader pointed out that these ideas run contrary to known ‘clinical facts’ such as the centrality of empathy for analytic work. While I have no doubt that empathy is a highly visible component of many analyses and often seems to analysts and analysands to be of central therapeutic value and that, further, thinkers like Kohut (1959) see empathy as the core methodology of psychoanalytic investigation, I do not take it as a demonstrated fact that empathy is always a central curative factor in analysis. That, in recent years, empathy appears in this light, as a central fact, to many analysts has many sources. One of these is the absence of good alternative explanations of the effectiveness of psychoanalysis. Nonlinear dynamics provides alternative explanations and thereby opens up the possibility of observing a wider range of ‘facts.’