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This article traces the development of the concept of inter-subjectivity in psychoanalysis.
Drawing on Freud's ‘Remembering, Repeating and Working Through,’ it is enriched in the context of countertransference, projective identification, the analytical third, the analytical field, and reverie.
The concept of intersubjectivity is then addressed. Contrary to the subject-object duality, this concept, which points to a common space formed in the encounter between two subjects, has paved the way for the development of new approaches in psychoanalysis. The South American model of myth construction, the Italian model of fantasising and post-Bionian thought, and the North American model of plasma models based on interpersonal theory are discussed. Ogden's concept of the analytical third and Bolognini's metaphor of empathy and the secret passage have contributed to the enrichment of these approaches.
Kaës' field theory further expands this framework with unconscious alliances and a three-level structure (intrapsychic, intersubjective, group). The types of alliances offer important clues for understanding the complexity and collective dimension of the analytical process.
Ultimately, the analytical process is not only the domain of the individual inner world, but also of the dynamics established between two subjectivities, which sometimes spill over into the social-cultural plane. This approach takes psychoanalysis out of its individual framework and opens it up to the creativity of intersubjectivity and two unconscious.