A listening-formulating model for psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Listening for and comprehending unconscious communication is the foundation of all psychoanalytic therapy. The process whereby latent meanings are app rehended and understood involves rhythmic shifts between unfocused and focu sed forms of attentiveness. Exactly how psychoanalytic listeners formulate hypotheses about unconscious meaning from these oscillating modes of attent iveness is a topic that has not been adequately addressed in the literature . This makes it difficult to "teach" psychoanalytic therapists how to liste n deeply and make sense of what they hear. A listening-formulating model is proposed to assist analytic students in hearing and comprehending unconsci ous communication. The aspects and phases of this model are illustrated by means of a detailed analysis of a clinical vignette.