When Time Stood Still: Thoughts about Time in Primitive Mental States

What is it about?

Deciphering the way patients experience time provides an special key to primitive mental areas which do not express themselves in the usual verbal or symbolic ways and can help us and our patients better understand these deep layers of the psyche.

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Why is it important?

Patients' experience of time within themselves and in the analytic session can become a sensitive key to understanding one's internal world, especially regarding psychic areas which are not expressed or represented in more usual verbal and symbolic ways. In addition, conceptualizing the analyst/psychotherapist's experience of time in the presence of her patients provides a unique tool for expanding the understanding of the patients' internal world.