The Passionate Psychoanalyst or Learning from the Emotional Experience

When two personalities meet, an emotional storm is created. If they make sufficient contact … an emotional state is produced by the conjunction of these two individuals…

The topic of this meeting being “Affects and Passion in Psychoanalysis,” I will begin these reflections with some basic definitions and questions about affects. We know that affects (or affective drive representatives) and emotions are differentiated in traditional psychoanalytic theory, but instead of defining or discriminating between them, I will basically speak about emotions and feelings — which I will consider as synonymous — and will not talk about their instinctual aspects. Also, instead of differentiating Freudian, Kleinian, and Bionian metapsychology, I will suppose that colleagues know the meanings and some of the differences in the usage of the terms in the different theories.1

Undoubtedly, I consider emotionality as a central factor in our mental life. Emotions (as well as intuition) make us different from machines, and are basically unique and subjective, although we can share them with others. We are “moved” and “stirred”2 by them. They are like the “juice,” the “culture broth” in which the “seeds” of our rational or irrational thoughts, and our creative or poetic capabilities develop. When the culture broth isn't a good one, ideas don't grow; if it is good, there will be development and new conceptions.