The Indexation of Interpretation

The patient had been in analysis for a few months. On that day, he was speaking about his sense of liberation in the relationship that had recently been established with his line manager. But at the beginning of the session, he had referred to an event that had occurred before he arrived for his session: a dead mouse he had noticed in the corridor of the metro. He was afraid he might leave traces of it on my couch with his shoes. The associative sequence led him to a sense of guilt concerning a part manufactured in the company where he was working. He had learnt that it could be the source of an accident. He went on to imagine that this would amount to a murder. The analyst asked him: “With traces left by shoes?” First indexation: he laughed. Then he added: “If you say so!” Assisted by the transference connotation, he returned to his boss, to the conflict that had been overcome and to its liberating effect. Noticing a painting on the wall, he then remarked: “It's a bit old-fashioned.” The analyst asked: “Close to death?” A new indexation: he laughed again. Then, after a moment of silence, he added: “You are right.” This was not his customary way of expressing himself.

A few years later, he was clearly confronted with the “demonic” aspect of the drive. Up to then, he had never been able to form a couple that lasted, but now he had found a woman with whom he had established a satisfying relationship on most levels, until the day when he was invaded by an impulse that was driving him to destroy this relationship. “Why do I feel like breaking up this magnificent relationship?” he asked. And he continued: I don't know what it's all about… Perhaps happiness is unbearable for me.” One thing leading to another, he talked about his disappointment, the day before, about not having pursued a reflection on the comparison between two civilisations of Antiquity. The analyst said: “The reflection was not magnificent…” A further indexation: he linked up this movement through the sig