The symbolism of money and psychoanalytic treatment

This chapter explores the symbolism of money within psychoanalytic treatment, highlighting its dual role as a universal and personal symbol. Drawing on Freud, Ferenczi, and later authors, it examines the deep-seated connection between money, anal erotism, and the processes of symbolization. Freud’s early work established an unconscious equivalence between money and excrement, emphasizing its role in repression and sublimation. Ferenczi further elaborated on this by linking money to the child’s first retained possession – faeces – bridging the transition from bodily to economic value. Through clinical cases, including Carine’s early child analysis, the chapter illustrates how anal mastery fosters the development of thought processes and mentalization, demonstrating the role of money in mediating psychic conflicts. Lacan’s structural approach is contrasted with Freud’s genetic perspective, emphasizing the function of money as a signifier of symbolic castration and its role in the analytic contract. The chapter also questions the necessity of money in analysis, discussing its function as both a material and fantasized mediator. Ultimately, it argues for a polysemic understanding of money, bridging personal symbolization with cultural mediation. Money emerges as a key element in the psychoanalytic process, shaping the transference relationship and the individuation of the analysand.