ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses somewhat beyond the generic claim that humour can be useful in psychoanalysis, at least in certain instances. He focuses on how tragicomic attunement - and intervention in particular - can be useful to the analyst as an outlook on life and as a praxis in helping the analysand to achieve the "the best possible psychological conditions for the functioning of the ego". The author suggests how tragicomic humour and intervention can be helpful in creating the conditions of possibility for the analysand to love more deeply and widely and work more effectively and productively, among other worthwhile goals of psychoanalysis. He discusses tragicomic humour and intervention from both sides of the analytic conversation, from the analyst's and the analysand's points of view. The author provides a few instances of how tragicomic attunement and intervention that originates in the analyst, and is mainly directed at the analysand, potentiating to the analysand's self-understanding and personal development.
