ABSTRACT
Human beings, as part of nature and its rhythms, have their own natural rhythms in both physical and psychological realms, including rhythms of wounding and recovery, deadness and aliveness. In this commentary, smile and scream are expanded and symbolically used as metaphor. Healthy alternation between negative emotions and positive ones sustains the flow and fluidity of affective energy, which can assist with modulation and modification, potentially leading to growth. Hallucinatory wishes for totality and absoluteness, embedded in idealizations, can hamper this rhythmic movement, and trauma can freeze it. Growing capacity for tolerating intense feelings occurs in small doses over time, increasing one’s ability to stay with what feels difficult. Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy provide a setting where the patient can experience partial breakdown and partial recovery repeatedly over many sessions, thus strengthening rhythmic flow and greater endurance. This commentary includes one of Eigen’s clinical cases.
