Abstract

SANDER, Gabrielle Krupp  and  KEGLER, Paula. The silence in absent and mute words: a psychoanalytical listening. Contextos Clínic [online]. 2018, vol.11, n.1, pp. 122-135. ISSN 1983-3482.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4013/ctc.2018.111.10.

Many changes have been observed in the psychoanalytical clinic since its origin. One important theoretical and technical evolution may be assigned to the role of silence, understood not only as a resistance phenomenon, but also as a valuable resource of clinical management. It is about the need for recognizing the purpose of therapists' and patients' silences in the specificity of listening as proposed by Psychoanalysis. Aiming to investigate the comprehension of silence and possibilities of management through the gaze of therapists who use psychoanalysis in their clinical practice, we used an exploratory qualitative method. In the data collection, we performed semi- structured interviews with four psychologists of psychanalytical orientation, with at least ten years of clinical experience. The gathered data were analyzed with Content Analysis, resulting in two categories: (i) Junctures on understanding silence in the psychoanalytical clinic; (ii) Managing silence in the psychoanalytical clinic - possibilities of listening. The results provided a rich discussion on silence, highlighting its importance in the current psychoanalytical clinic, and the relevance of understanding its diversity. We emphasize the manifestation of silence through mute words, which are susceptible of elaboration and interpretation, and of empty silence, which happens in the absence of words and in the need for their construction. We did not observe rigid criteria in silence management. The technical rigor of a flexible and appropriate management starts on the singularity of the therapeutic duo, and it involves, concurrently, the preservation and also the interruption of silence.

Keywords : silence; psychoanalytical listening; contemporary clinic.

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