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Title: Surprise and Symbolization
In this article, we offer some reflections on the concept of surprise by questioning its place and role in the practice of analytic processes. After discussing some elements related to the preconditions for surprise to occur in the analytic framework, in particular the dialectic between predictability and unpredictability, we examine the particularities of the mental state that favors states of surprise by drawing on the notions of »negative capability« and »selected fact«. We would like to propose a typology of moments of surprise that may be encountered in the analytical framework and that reveals their heterogeneous and polymorphic dimensions. Surprise can indeed vary in its temporality and intensity and can be experienced by both the analyst and the analysand separately or together. Surprise thus appears as an expression of unconscious meaning according to a reorganization of its relation to defense mechanisms such as splitting or repression. It could also maintain variable relationships with other sensory impressions such as astonishment, horror, and disconcerting strangeness. We further propose to consider surprise as an essential feature of the symbolization process to which the analyst pays particular attention. From this perspective, it appears as an expression of an encounter with the unexpected at the interface between the inside and the outside, between pleasure and displeasure, which is why it is so central to the work of psychic integration. It therefore occupies an essential place in analytic work and is catalyzed by the occurrence of transference and free association. Finally, the article concludes with some thoughts on surprise at the intersection of psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and epistemology, drawing in particular on Karl Friston’s work on the Bayesian brain.
The full text is available in German.