ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book looks at the unconscious from the vantage point of its convergence with the ‘other-world’ of the metaphysical. It delves into the relational nature of the unconscious as it manifests in shared experiences from the dyadic intimacy of the analytic setting to the internalized influences of the socio-political environment in which we live. The book expands on the discussion of enactments in the clinical situation by exploring how it is influenced by the mytho-symbolic narratives of the patriarchy and fatherhood and how this aspect of the unconscious is pertinent to understanding the current socio-political situation. It elaborates on unconscious psychosocial processes that permeate identity formation and clinical work and how “intergenerational transmission of trauma creates a normative unconscious.” The book explicates how describing the theories as idiolects emphasizes their differences while acknowledging their shared foundation in a common psychoanalytic language.
