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Chapter Eight – A Consulting Break - Page 254
As noted in the introduction, this run of dialogue has potentially very great depth of
structure, and encompasses many of Foulkes’s Levels (1964) and Matte-Blanco’s Strata
(Rayner, 1995). As an example, when Judi is talking about the receptionists, she is
talking about potentially traumatic anxiety in relation to work. This can be read, with an
understanding of bi-logic as Women are afraid of The Director/men/so, you, and I’m
afraid of them/so by extension, I am afraid of you. Subsequently, Judi talks about
trivialising something, as indeed I think Bill is. Both Bill and Judi escalate their
dismissal of each other’s concerns. Here, I believe that part of what is happening is that
we are, in various ways, representing dynamics and conflicts between us, without much
conscious awareness, or any agreement that we try and process rather than re-act to
what we are experiencing.
This is a vignette of a woman frightened of a man, and experiencing difficulty getting
that feeling of fear heard. On Page 245, Bill is trying to postpone the issue until later
(“Let’s talk about it in the meeting”). This can be seen as both avoiding conflict as well
as potentially containing it. This vignette is considered in more detail below, in ‘More
Analysis’ under ‘Displacement and Projection’ on Page 261.
On Pages 245 and 246, Bill tries to get discussion of his anxiety about this group into
this room now, in particular that two of the students have not had any therapy. 11 The
theme of the intervention (again, derived by blurring the subject and object of the verb)
is that no one has tackled someone.
11 Therapy here refers to the personal psychotherapy that the students are now required to undertake as
part of the course and a typical requirement in psychoanalytic psychotherapy training. My recall is that
this had been an issue of concern to many involved with the course, and was divisive amongst the course
staff, some supporting Bill and some not. It was of particular concern to the facilitator Q, who was facing
the approach of the end of the course and the group, and the issue of how that may leave two of the
students. Incidentally, I also recall that at this point Bill and Judi have very different ideas (although these
are not explored in detail) about which two students are of concern to Q.