The Dynamic Après-Coup

One could distinguish between the descriptive idea of après-coup and the concept of a dynamic après-coup. The first is widely present in French psychoanalysis and simply means “after”. The concept of a dynamic après-coup implies different temporalities such as the notions of fixation, regression, compulsion to repeat, and the return of the repressed. These different temporal notions refer to the heterochrony in psychoanalysis, developed in particular by André Green. In addition, the concept of dynamic après-coup is part of a network constituted by other concepts, such as trauma, castration, passivation and infantile sexuality, which gives it its metapsychological and “third” dimension.

The operation of après-coup is a dynamic movement that brings the temporalities of the subject into play in a constant to-and-fro. In what way does this point of view illuminate clinical practice and make it possible to establish new links between different types of material? In the following example, a link is established between a painting, a dream, the here-and-now of the transference, and a childhood memory. They are gradually organised into a chain that makes sense in the situation of the transference and enriches the echoes of the actuality of the session.

A woman, a renowned sculptor in her fifties, petite and brunette, came to do an analysis. She walked lightly, as if suspended, with a rare elegance. She wanted, she said, to do an analysis because she was afraid of losing her memory and at times felt unable to think. She had undergone many medical examinations to see if her concerns had any basis, but nothing organic had been found. She had already done an analysis and felt that it had helped her. She was married and had two daughters.

During the last few sessions, she had had dreams in which the presence of celebrities indicated her tendency to idealise the analyst and her narcissistic identification with her. She had read a chapter of a book the analyst had recently written and