Locating the couch: an autobiographical analysis of the multiple spatialities of psychoanalytic therapy

Abstract

Using an autobiographical methodology, the paper examines the different spatialities involved in psychoanalytic therapy. The paper proposes an understanding of space that is simultaneously physical, relational, emotional, symbolic and transformative. Focusing on the practices and microgeographies involved in psychoanalytic therapy, the aim of the paper is to contribute to the body of literature dealing with psychoanalytic geography by discussing how spatial logics pervade psychoanalytic treatment and to test autobiography as an experience-near, subjectively immersed instrument for investigation.

Ubicando el sillón: un análisis autobiográfico de las espacialidades múltiples de la terapia sicoanalítica

Utilizando una metodología autobiográfica, el articulo se examina las espacialidades diferentes involucrados en la terapia sicoanalítica. El articulo se propone un entendimiento del espacio diferente que está simultáneamente físico, relacional, simbólico y transformativo. Enfocando en las practicas y microgeografias involucrados en la terapia sicoanalítica, el propósito del articulo es contribuir al cúmulo de literatura que se trata a geografía sicoanalítica por discutir como lógicos espaciales permean el tratamiento sicoanalítica, y probar la autobiografía como una experiencia o instrumento sumergido en el subjetivo para investigación.

Localiser le canapé: Un analyse autobiographique des multiples spatialités de la théorie psychanalytique

Cet article examine les différentes spatialités impliquées dans la théorie psychanalytique en faisant usage d'une méthodologie autobiographique. L'article propose une compréhension de l'espace qui est à la fois physique, relationnelle, émotionnelle, symbolique, et transformative. En étant axé sur les pratiques et microgéographies impliqués dans la thérapie psychanalytique, l'article vise non seulement à contribuer à la littérature traitant la géographie psychanalytique en discutant comment les logiques spatiales envahissent le traitement psychanalytique, mais aussi à tester l'autobiographie en tant qu'un instrument d'enquête immergé dans la subjectivité, exprimé « de près ».

Keywords::

• psychoanalytic geography
• psychoanalytic therapy
• psychoanalysis
• autobiography
• personal diary
• transformative space

Mots-clefs::

• géographie psychanalytique
• traitement psychanalytique
• psychanalyse
• autobiographie
• journal intime
• espace transformatif

Palabras claves::

• geografía sicoanalítica
• terapia sicoanalítica
• sicoanálisis
• autobiografía
• diario personal
• espacio transformativo

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Annalisa Colombino, Elisa Bignante, Marco Santangelo, Ugo Rossi, the Editor and the anonymous Referees for their friendly support and Carlo Brosio for our therapeutic landscape.

Notes

^1. It has to be mentioned that the diffusion of psychoanalytic ideas in geography has been characterized by notable absences: for example the lack of Jungian and post-Freudian perspectives (Callard 2003).

^2. Industrial geography may certainly be investigated and discussed with passion and personal participation. My autobiographical story shows that I gradually moved towards more ‘emotionally involved’ and ‘emotionally exposed’ objects and research methods; this reveals a strong link between the professional and the emotional. Prior to my difficulty with social relations, I was interested chiefly in social and political phenomena which I investigated with ethnographic methods and qualitative research tools such as interviews. More recently, with my growing discomfort with social interactions, I shifted to non-human objects (e.g. videogame culture or analysis of policy documents); this was arguably a way to work around my difficulty with inter-personal relations. Of course, this article moves in the same direction.