The Eye and the Couch: Dialectical and Metaphorical Aspects of Seeing and Being Seen in Development and Psychoanalytic Treatment
Item
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Title
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The Eye and the Couch: Dialectical and Metaphorical Aspects of Seeing and Being Seen in Development and Psychoanalytic Treatment
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:41c5748c0c36:10990
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identifier
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11414
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Creator
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Choksi, Komal L.,
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Contributor
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Jeffrey Rosen
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Clinical psychology | Exhibitionism-Voyeurism | Eye Symbolism | Gaze | Psychoanalytic Treatment | Scopophilia | The Couch
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Abstract
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The iconic scene of the psychoanalytic setting depicts two individuals present in the same physical space but looking away from one another. This scene invites the question of the role of gaze both in psychoanalysis and in the broader course of human interaction. These are the topics explored in this thesis, which is largely theoretical. The conscious and unconscious associations to looking and being looked at provide the data for a contextual analysis of the use of the psychoanalytic couch which systematically prevents facial-affective reading and interaction between patient and analyst.;A review of literature was undertaken to understand the meanings of seeing and being seen with a different conceptual lens adopted in each chapter. The first chapter, covering phylogeny and ontogeny, established the biological roots of gaze and gaze aversion and the unconscious processes involved in visuofacial interaction. The second chapter demonstrated the paramount significance of maternal-infant gazing in the development of both psychic and interaction structures. The coupling of gazing with sexuality, shame, and envy was revealed in the third chapter. The fourth chapter considered gaze in existentialist philosophy in which gaze is alienating, in feminist theory, in which gaze is indicative of power and status, and in current contemporary culture, which is increasingly exhibitionistic and voyeuristic. Literature on the rationale for the couch with an emphasis on the visual dimension was reviewed in the subsequent chapter. The literature demonstrated the persistent associations of libido and aggression to gaze and provided the possible motives for its exclusion in analytic treatment.;The last chapter was an attempt to apply these findings to the clinical encounter and consider therapeutic action in both physical-interactive setups -- face to face and with the use of the couch. The significance of nonverbal affective communication, shame, analytic voyeurism, regression, internal focus, holding, separation-individuation, loss, and symbolization were considered, along with amodal perceptual functioning and the role of mirror neurons in analytic empathy. It was concluded that the decision to treat a patient face to face or not must involve an attunement to the possible idiosyncratic meanings for the patient of the analyst's gaze and face.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
