The Empty Symbol and Its Relation to the Psychoanalytic Process

Abstract

Analysts need to be aware that each word used by a patient is composed of a constant conjunction of a person's intimate emotional and historical referents, conscious and unconscious affects, memories, and conceptions and fantasies. If this conjunction does not correspond to that of the analyst, a gap develops between them. This gap in meaning is a non-understanding that emerges outside consciousness and beyond words. The author conceptualizes this relational phenomenon as the Empty Symbol.