ABSTRACT
James McLaughlin once described Loewald as a “quiet revolutionary,” an epithet that could easily be applied to him. An exemplary American independent, McLaughlin draws on a “collaborative clinical stance” and pays attention in listening, as might Erikson, to “richness of context.” He expects surprise and nonconfirmation of theory. He is interested in “how” rather than “what” and advocates for uncertainty over certainty. This chapter names his technique “close-surface listening.” The Healer’s Bent, a collection of his papers, allows readers to savor his life and work. McLaughlin describes his dumb, blind, and hard spots: his need to learn; his intrapsychic countertransference challenges, and his over-adherence to theory and technical rules, listening for when he should be listening to. McLaughlin writes with emotional immediacy of his own development and family life and how these have affected his clinical work. He describes “transference sanctuaries”–the woodshop and garden where he could be alone and engage internally with his patients, his clinical work, and his own mind. Like Loewald, McLaughlin puts forth the view that transference is a necessity in life as in analysis. It brings the intensity and light that create psychic growth, structural change, and personal meaning. James McLaughlin is among the most evocative and beautiful of psychoanalytic writers.
