Feeling puzzled while paying attention

The analyst’s dedication to paying attention is one of the definitive features of the analytic situation. This fundamental fact is often overlooked, or at least left implicit, despite wide agreement about how important it is. At the same time, the analyst and patient agree to engage with one another amidst a great deal of uncertainty and indeterminacy. Puzzled and uncertain moods are central in analytic progress, although they are sometimes viewed as impediments: Chaos and uncertainty are part of change process. These two qualities are central elements of psychoanalytic change process. The analyst’s reflective concentration can disrupt established patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting, and analysts’ attention to the variations in their own attention can enhance therapeutic processes. Analysts can benefit by attending to the variations in their own attention. The well-justified Relational psychoanalytic enthusiasm for interaction may be leading some Relationalists to overlook the special opportunities offered by the analytic aptitude for an open, quiet, focused mind and creative use of ambiguity and even confusion, in the midst of intense emotional and interpersonal activity. Nonlinear dynamic systems theories and phenomenological philosophy are discussed.