Tradition and Originality in the Transference and its Implication for Training Analyses: A Coleridgean Commentary - William Meredith-Owen
Date: 24 April 2010
10am - 12pm
Chair: Barbara Levick
‘It is not possible to be original except on the basis of tradition’. This characteristically paradoxical comment of Winnicott’s is considered from the perspective of S. T. Coleridge’s observations about ‘the mind’s self-experience of itself’. The implicit tensions between ‘tradition’ (formal structure, received wisdom) and ‘originality’ (creativity, individuation) are explored, especially in the transference. Thus the existential doubts of some analysands may undermine their confidence that their integrity will be fostered by the analytical relationship: so instead the trappings of ‘tradition’ (e.g. in the case of a trainee the assumption of a professionally endorsed status) may be appropriated as a spurious substitute for ‘originality’. An anticipatory ‘faith’, albeit initially rather cerebral, may be necessary to sustain the analytic endeavour until a more intimate, heartfelt ‘trust’ can release the potential for individuation.
William Meredith-Owen is a Professional Member of The SAP and of the West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology and is in private practice in London and Stratford-upon-Avon.
Barbara Levick is a Member of The SAP and is in private practice in Oxford.
Venue: Friends Meeting House, 43 St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LW
Cost: £17 including coffee
Posted by SAP Admin
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