ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are forms of art, consistent with the definition of art. Over the years many have used art as a metaphor for analysis and others have discussed the artful qualities of psychoanalytic practice and technique. Many types of art do not produce objects. Music and dance are experiences which posses structure and aesthetic quality. The chapter focuses on Descartes' method, which when applied to one's own inner experience is useless: the instrument of observation, being the same thing as the suffering self quickly succumbed to the fog of neurotic conflict. The analyst's attitude of neutrality and relative anonymity allows for the patient's subjectivity to be highlighted and made clearer. The analyst accepts the patient's subjectivity and begins to get to know them. Gradually the patient's subjectivity is articulated, given a fuller meaning and put in context in collaboration with the analyst.
