WORKING IN THE SILENCE
Silence is not merely an absence of words but can be experienced as an alive and active presence as well. These seminars are a meditation on the work that happens in the silence — the therapist’s silence, the patient’s silence, the multiple meanings and experiences of shared silence.
We will explore various types of analytic silence: generative, stubborn, the silence of shame, silence as resistance, regressive silence, as well as spiritual and aesthetic silence. We will look at the developmental stages of silence noting the differences between silence early in the treatment, silence in the middle, and silence at the end.
When we consider silence and language as means of connection, communication, and interaction, we expand our appreciation for the unknown, which positively impacts our analytic attitude. This seminar seeks to help us expand our capacity to sit in and value silence, thus facilitating analytic depth.
- Participants will be able to describe and differentiate five different types of analytic silence.
- Participants will be able to define what is meant by silence in the service of regression.
- Participants will be able to develop the therapeutic capacity to tolerate and sustain analytic silence in the room.
- Participants will be able to provide a list of two clinical examples of enactments using silence.
- Participants will be able to define and differentiate 5 types of silence according to Stephen Kurtz.
Beth Barmack, LCSW, is a member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, where she teaches infant observation and supervises. She co-authored an article in the Journal of Analytic Psychology (June 2010) on infant observation and the transcendent function. She practices in San Francisco and sees adolescents, adults, and couples.