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The Freudian Moment
Bollas eloquently argues for a return to our understanding of how Freudian psychoanalysis works unconscious to unconscious. Failure to follow Freud’s basic assumptions about psychoanalytical listening has resulted in the abandonment of searching for the “the logic of sequence” which Freud regarded as the primary way we express unconscious thinking.
In two extensive interviews and follow-up essays, all occurring in 2006, we follow Christopher Bollas exploring his most recent and radical challenge to contemporary psychoanalysis. The Freudian Moment, Bollas argues, realizes a phylogenetic preconception that has existed for tens of thousands of years. The invention of psychoanalysis realizes this preconception and constitutes a profound step forward in human relations.
Bollas’ proposal that we use the image of the symphonic score to better imagine unconscious articulation opens up a new conceptual way for grasping the complexity of unconscious thought. His excoriating critique of the here-and-now transference interpretation will challenge a form of practice that is now widespread throughout the analytical world. It is rare to have literary access to such work in progress, but it provides exhilarating insight into the workings of one of the finest minds in the history of psychoanalysis.
In two extensive interviews and follow-up essays, all occurring in 2006, we follow Christopher Bollas exploring his most recent and radical challenge to contemporary psychoanalysis. The Freudian Moment, Bollas argues, realizes a phylogenetic preconception that has existed for tens of thousands of years. The invention of psychoanalysis realizes this preconception and constitutes a profound step forward in human relations.
Bollas’ proposal that we use the image of the symphonic score to better imagine unconscious articulation opens up a new conceptual way for grasping the complexity of unconscious thought. His excoriating critique of the here-and-now transference interpretation will challenge a form of practice that is now widespread throughout the analytical world. It is rare to have literary access to such work in progress, but it provides exhilarating insight into the workings of one of the finest minds in the history of psychoanalysis.
- GenresPsychoanalysisPsychology
116 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2007
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About the author
Christopher Bollas
44 books91 followersChristopher Bollas, Ph.D. is a Member of the International Psychoanalytical Association and has been practicing for over fifty years. Former Director of Education at the Austen Riggs Center he was Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis at the Institute of Child Neuropsychiatry of the University of Rome. He is a prolific author and international lecturer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 24, 2021
Bollas presents many of his original ideas and some critical readings of Freud in this book. Composed of two interviews and three essays, but only a hundred pages long, this is a great place to start with Bollas' work. I have read a few of his published articles before this, but this book stands on its own, and every idea presented is either backed by some minor explication or substantial argument within the text itself.
Many ideas come up here that will be of interest in those reading psychoanalytic literature. Within the interviews: the free listening analyst, the Freudian Moment, the Freudian Pair, theory as a meta-sensual phenomenon that creates structures for unconscious perception of unconscious material, a critique of "here and now" transference interpretations as primary in the analytic process, an argument for a developing and perceptive unconscious, an argument for the purpose of analysis as the space for the growth and development of the analysand's unconscious; and finally three essays: one on "perceptive identification" (essentially the internal object relations exposition of Winnicott's idea of "the use of an object"), what theory is, and how transference interpretations can contaminate and spoil the free association process.
The 4-star rating has nothing to do with deficiency of ideas or obscurity of presentation in this work. Although mostly arbitrary based on my personal interests, I gave it four stars for how repetitive it can be at times, though for the person who is new to Bollas' work, this could be a strength of the work.
Highly recommend.
Many ideas come up here that will be of interest in those reading psychoanalytic literature. Within the interviews: the free listening analyst, the Freudian Moment, the Freudian Pair, theory as a meta-sensual phenomenon that creates structures for unconscious perception of unconscious material, a critique of "here and now" transference interpretations as primary in the analytic process, an argument for a developing and perceptive unconscious, an argument for the purpose of analysis as the space for the growth and development of the analysand's unconscious; and finally three essays: one on "perceptive identification" (essentially the internal object relations exposition of Winnicott's idea of "the use of an object"), what theory is, and how transference interpretations can contaminate and spoil the free association process.
The 4-star rating has nothing to do with deficiency of ideas or obscurity of presentation in this work. Although mostly arbitrary based on my personal interests, I gave it four stars for how repetitive it can be at times, though for the person who is new to Bollas' work, this could be a strength of the work.
Highly recommend.
July 28, 2019
Mi tipo de libro. ¡Esta excelente!
February 9, 2025
Cada vez gostando mais de conhecer as ideias do Bollas. Não curti tanto o formato desse livro… a coisa da entrevista me cansou um pouco mais do que no outro, mas acaba por ajudar demais na compreensão. Ansiosa para escutá-lo na palestra do CEP esse ano!
August 14, 2025
Básico en el nuevo momento del psicoanálisis o lo que llaman el psicoanálisis contemporáneo, Bollas transmite ideas complejas de una forma sencilla y ahonda en conceptos que amplían la teoría de una de las disciplinas psicológicas más importantes y complejas de nuestros tiempos.
December 29, 2014
Repetitive in parts, but Bollas's perspectives offer fruitful insights for any clinician.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews