Privacy and intimacy as two mediators of relatedness

This chapter explores the paradoxical interplay of privacy and intimacy as it mediates the subjective sense of self in relation to the sense of others. Psychoanalytic perspectives on privacy, including the development of the ability to ‘keep secrets’ and the complementary role of the analyst’s privacy and analytic reverie, are explored. Psychoanalytic perspectives on intimacy are discussed with a consideration of the tension in the clinical setting between the analyst’s privacy and disclosure. A detailed clinical illustration of a patient with psychosexual developmental issues and their impact on intimacy is presented.