The Unknown: The Deep Link Between Mindfulness And Psychoanalysis

Many people will see the practice of Mindfulness and psychoanalytic therapy as different and distant The meeting between these two worlds can be represented as an encounter between hooded monks eating simple food from bowls and formally dressed Europeans chatting in cafes.

As in any situation where there is a lack of intimate knowledge – “from the inside” – in different worlds, perceptions from one world to the other could be generalized in a cartoonish way: sometimes idealizing, but often making the different inferior. and even ridiculous.

The relationship between Mindfulness and psychoanalysis

In extreme cases (which are not uncommon), “Mindfulness people” may see psychoanalysis as a kind of intellectualization, and “psychoanalysts” may see mindfulness practice as a spiritual simplification that avoids the complexities of the psyche and life.

But in practice, the two modes (Mindfulness and psychoanalysis) They try to improve attention skills with the purpose of reducing human suffering; skills that both practices strive to bring to the highest and most professional level, what a work of art. In reality, the core of the therapeutic act, like the core of the practice of mindfulness, is associated with an attentive presence in an emergent space, whose formation contours are unknown and uncontrollable.

It is a presence that strives to remain in permissive contact with the emerging space and allows it to evolve naturally and take new forms, with its own rhythm, again and again.

This kind of attentive presence depends on the ability to be in contact with “the unknown” If we cannot contain it (the unknown), we immediately categorize everything we encounter into preconceived categories. Instead of conceiving what is happening now, we interpret it according to our expectations, opinions and previous knowledge. In this case we cannot be in contact with the real present moment (without mediation) nor with the reality of the person we are facing. The new and unique of the present moment is enveloped by our preconceived ideas.

The nature of the unknown

Only if we manage to encounter the unknown can we confront the freshness of the new moment and the otherness of another person In reality, our curiosity, our learning, our ability to adapt to new circumstances, and our ability to really know another person… all depend on this stripped attention and this ability to be in touch with an element not yet. acquaintance.

Wilfred Bion, one of the most innovative developers of Freud and Klein, psychoanalyst and multidisciplinary genius, introduced this kind of stripped-down attention to psychoanalysis. He emphasized that meeting the present moment without preconceived ideas is a central feature of the practice of psychotherapy. He further distinguished the different degrees of personality transformations and stated that Therapists who are able to hold “the unknown” can facilitate the deepest transformations

Bion devoted many publications to this topic and developed original concepts to communicate his intent. He insisted that psychoanalysis has become inundated with theories and knowledge that could hinder the therapist’s ability to see the patient as he is. The informed therapist, Bion claimed, could be so saturated with existing ideas that lose the uniqueness of the real patient in the present moment

Another way of understanding therapy

According to Bion, each therapeutic session must be treated as a new, unknown and emerging unit. In one of his most cited articles, he wrote “Every session evolves. “Out of darkness and formlessness, something evolves” (Wilfred Bion, Notes on Memory and Desire). In this same article, he suggests therapists be attentive to the patient “without memory or desire” and maintain direct contact with the unique impact of the present moment. Bion elaborated on this topic:

“Psychoanalytic ‘observation’ is not concerned with what has happened or what will happen but with what is happening… For the analyst, each of the sessions must be devoid of history and future… The only important thing in any session is what unknown and nothing should prevent us from intuiting it”. Wilfred Bion, Notes on Memory and Desire.

Bion introduced, one could say, the art of misrecognition, into the world of psychotherapy. In other words, we can refer to Bion as the champion of the unknown in the discipline of psychotherapy. Among so much psychoanalytic knowledge, he tried to generate a language that points to and includes the unknown inherently. The ability to be unsaturated and in contact with elements not yet known is a central key, according to Bion, to facilitate profound transformations in the patient’s personality.

In short: keeping “the unknown” alive and present is an art form that is at the heart of any therapeutic endeavor and any moment of mindfulness. It reflects the ability to be in direct contact with the present reality and with the uniqueness of other human beings. Despite our natural tendency to categorize everything we encounter according to preconceived categories and existing knowledge, this art form allows us to absorb the freshness of the present moment and the otherness of the other. Therefore, this art form is located at the core of attention, learning and creativity processes; represents the deep link between mindfulness and psychoanalysis.