“The Analyst is Present”: Viewing the Psychoanalytic Process as Performance Art

Since its establishment as a profession, psychoanalytic practitioners have struggled with understanding the true nature of their work. Many remain devoted to Freud's medical model (Freud, 1958) and aspire to establish a logical-positivistic basis for psychoanalysis. Others view the field more broadly, and consider psychoanalysis a distinctively humanistic discipline. This paper suggests that the bifurcation may be resolved by focusing on clinical as opposed to theoretical psychoanalysis—an emphasis that illuminates its artistic elements. Psychoanalysts’ work may be likened to performance artists, primarily because they work to create an experience in their patients. In addition, they give with their psyche-somas, reminiscent of how actors use their bodies as instruments; they face each session in a fashion akin to how painters face the white canvas or writers the blank page; and they choose from an infinite number of possible models for coconstructing ways of understanding their patients’ experiences. Regardless of past or future theoretical differences, psychoanalysts provide creative, transformative experiences most accurately described as transformational encounters. Psychoanalysis is a verb, a process. While it alleviates pain caused by various mental disorders, it also assists individuals in discovering their individuality, authenticity, and singularity. In support of the artistic foundation of the psychoanalytic process, the paper includes three scenes that demonstrate how patients experience precipitous, essential breaks in their repetitive, internal dramas, resulting in them experiencing themselves as beings, capable of change. It thereby demonstrates how psychoanalytic practitioners bring something new to life, further validating how psychoanalysis qualifies as an artistic endeavor.