Dancing with the Unconscious

Psychoanalysis in a New Key

by Danielle Knafo

In writing and lecturing over the past two decades on the relationship between psychoanalysis and art, Danielle Knafo has demonstrated the many ways in which these two disciplines inform and illuminate each other. This book continues that discussion, emphasizing how the creative process in psychoanalysis and art utilizes the unconscious in a quest for transformation and healing. Part one of the book presents case studies to show how free association, transference, dream work, regression, altered states of consciousness, trauma, and solitude function as creative tools for analyst, patient, and artist. Knafo uses the metaphor of dance to describe therapeutic action, the back-and-forth movement between therapist and patient, past and present, containment and release, and conscious and unconscious thought. The analytic couple is both artist and medium, and the dance they do together is a dynamic representation of the boundless creativity of the unconscious mind. Part two of the book offers in-depth studies of several artists to illustrate how they employ various media for self-expression and self-creation. Knafo shows how artists, though mostly creating in solitude, are frequently engaged in significant relational proceses that attempt rapprochement with internalized objects and repair of psychic injury. Dancing with the Unconscious expands the theoretical dimension of psychoanalysis while offering the clinician ways to realize greater creativity in work with patients.

Genres: Psychoanalysis, Art

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2012

Reviews

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Danielle makes some interesting remarks about the universality of art and makes an accurate critique of drugs (even assuring they alienate and 'depersonalize'), she, without citing historical accounts, "criticizes" soviet and cuban regimes.

This always happens: if one doesn't know about politics, one should stay silent.

[Tristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really wonderful book. Clinical Psychology Professor, Danielle Knafo really understands art, creativity and the artist's life and her analysis of the connections between Psychoanalysis and Art is fascinating. There are also some great color photos of the artwork she is discussing in the middle of the book, so you can really connect with the images yourself. She also touches on dreams and the role they play in Psychoanalysis and Art, although she was a bit too Freudian for my taste. It also wasn't clear why she chose the artists she did - it would have been nice to have a better explanation of that. But overall, a really wonderful book and a huge gift to the world of Art and Psychotherapy.