Abstract

RIBEIRO, Diana Pancini de Sá Antunes  and  AMARAL, Henrique Uva do. Silence in the psychoanalytic clinic through the concepts of Donald Winnicott and Wilhelm Reich. Nat. hum. [online]. 2016, vol.18, n.1, pp. 69-96. ISSN 1517-2430.

Silence has always been a theme which has generated extensive discussion throughout the history of psychoanalytic clinic, since many analysts had difficulties in dealing with it in the therapeutic setting. Considering the various possibilities with which psychoanalysts deal with silence in the setting, we note that Donald Winnicott and Wilhelm Reich give important contributions to this issue. The goal of this article is, therefore, to present their viewpoints on silence in the psychoanalytic clinic and to establish a brief dialogue between them, describing possible differences and similarities. Our choice of a dialogue is justified by the fact that, despite their technical and methodological differences, both authors have a common therapeutic objective: spontaneity. Although we are dealing with tendencies, we conclude that, to Reich, the silence of the patient is seen predominantly as resistance, and to Winnicott, silence can also be understood as hesitation and as an achievement of the patient in the therapeutic process.

Keywords : psychoanalysis; Donald Winnicott; Wilhelm Reich; silence; spontaneity.

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