Students of psychoanalysis have traditionally dedicated themselves to an attentive, and at times downright obstinate study of the literature on the subject. Such study provides them with a specific theoretical-semiological expertise, which enables them to play an active part in investigating, putting into context, deciphering and translating the elements of mental life.

At a more humble level, in the privacy of their own self-analysis and later in their daily work with their patients, psychoanalysts practice the art of making contact with their own internal world and with that of other people: at the end of the day, if the analyst feels he has worked well enough, this sensation is usually accompanied by the feeling of having experienced the most significant encounters of the day “from within” (perhaps in silent expectation, or discretely acting as a witness). Psychoanalysts take many years to learn how to combine their ability to feel and to think in an integrated way; the ability to feel in particular, which enables us to help people