Argument on the Theme

This year's theme, proposed by the Romanian Journal of Psychoanalysis, refers to the phenomenon of intuition in its dual meaning: both as a means of psychic knowledge and as an extremely valuable working tool for the psychoanalyst.

In the Oxford Dictionary, intuition is defined as: “the ability to know something by using your feelings rather than considering the facts; an idea or a strong feeling that something is true although you cannot explain why”.

In psychoanalysis, intuition was introduced by Bion as a primary working tool for the psychoanalyst. In Experiences in Groups , he speaks about the need to investigate group phenomena through the development of psychoanalytic intuition, an instrument that allows the analyst to move beyond the dependency on psychoanalytic theories, which clearly have their limitations. For Bion, intuition becomes the main way to grasp the ultimate reality of things, without relying on the senses and without being verifiable or explainable at a conscious level. At the same time, however, in Memories of the Future , Bion clarifies: “Dreams without intuition are empty; without concepts, they are blind”. Thus, he does not exclude the presence of the senses or critical thinking and psychoanalytic concepts that the analyst possesses. On the contrary, intuition can only arise on the pre-existing foundation of theoretical and conceptual knowledge, which serves as a precondition for its emergence. Bion states that a temporary suspension of the senses is necessary when intuition occurs, but this, of course, does not negate the fact that, above all, the analyst relies on their senses to understand and get to know the patient. Here we see the connection with Freud's idea of the analyst's attitude of evenly suspended attention, as a response to the patient's free association.

Thus, in Bion's view, intuition becomes a privileged form of knowledge, through which we gain access to the patient's psychic reality, to the essence of things, to the truth embe