Psychoanalytic listening to a company's employees: A work that is possible?

Abstract

The present paper reports on a study carried out over three years in two companies in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It aimed to give employees an opportunity to talk over and rethink their difficulties and present problems, usually associated with other people who interfered in their professional and personal relationships. We believe that, through acknowledging their issues and accepting the responsibilities assigned to them, a greater quota of creative power could be released in them, generating wellbeing and positive results, both at home and at work. Our intervention was not psychotherapy. However, we gave time for reflection, which in turn gave personal meaning to the problems presented by the employees and thereby lessened their suffering.

Keywords:

• psychoanalysis
• analytical listening
• fluctuating attention
• desire
• unconscious