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THE MAJOR PURPOSE IN OUR PAPER IS to present a new concept about primary process functioning we have called primary process meaning analysis. By primary process meaning analysis we refer to a process in which the primary process system unconsciously organizes, evaluates, represents, and communicates the meanings of an individual's interactions with the external world. What have been labeled primary process derivatives are actually, in our opinion, the end-products of a process we call meaning analysis, in which individuals unconsciously represent the meanings they ascribe to their interactions with the environment and especially other persons (Dorpat & Miller, 1992).
Primary process derivatives include imagery, figures of speech (especially metaphors), nonverbal communications, affects, intuition, and some narratives. The theory advanced here about primary process meaning analysis differs from the traditional theory inasmuch as we do not believe that these derivatives are formed from unconscious fantasies.
In contrast to the traditional theory which conceptualizes the primary process as isolated from interactions with the outside world, our theory conceptualizes the primary process as having direct contact with the external world. In our previous publications we showed that the primary process system is immediately and directly involved with an individual's interactions with others (Dorpat, 1991) ; (Dorpat & Miller, 1992). This system unconsciously organizes and, thereby, attributes a meaning to such interactions in addition to also unconsciously representing and communicating the meanings ascribed to these interactions to others. The following vignettes illustrate our theory about primary process meaning analysis.
Our first vignette is taken from the published process notes of four successive sessions of an analysis conducted by Silverman