Subject of the Unconscious

Neil and Isolda reunite after months away from podcasting to discuss psychoanalysis as an experience rather than an intellectual exercise. They note that many people first encounter psychoanalysis through university and reading Freud, Lacan, and other theorists, but argue that reading cannot substitute for presenting oneself as an analysand. They emphasize that the analytic experience involves the body, the unconscious as something lived, and a singular process in which a person begins to listen differently to their own words, symptoms, repetitions, and emotions. They explore how speaking to an analyst differs from talking to friends or family: the analyst listens with interest, without a vested interest in directing decisions, and their own analytic experience shapes their responses. Isolda adds that analysis creates distance from oneself and changes how one relates to others, knowledge, politics, and one’s body, including learning to distinguish feelings such as anguish, sadness, and anger. Neil shares an example from a stressful outing with his children where he noticed his own pattern of anticipating problems, then brought those associations into analysis, illustrating how analytic work continues outside the session and fosters curiosity about one’s subjective reactions. They discuss how analysis can open new possibilities by sustaining not-knowing, linking this to invention and to transference as both a concept and an experience. Neil compares psychoanalysis to aspects of 12-step recovery in moving from certainty to uncertainty and learning to use not-knowing, while Isolda highlights the distinctive role of the unconscious as a “glitch in the system.” They consider making the next episode about transference, and Neil proposes connecting it to a question he wants to explore: whether being a psychoanalyst is hard.00:24 Back on the Mic: Reuniting After Months Away00:38 Today’s Topic: Psychoanalysis as a Lived Experience (Not Just Theory)02:49 Reading vs. Being an Analysand: The ‘Textbook’ Is Your Body07:36 Neil’s Path In: How Reading Freud Sparked the Journey09:03 Why Speaking to an Analyst Changes Everything (Beyond Friends’ Advice)12:54 Isolda’s Path: Analysis First, Then Lacan—And Learning to Hear Yourself18:25 What the Analyst Does (and Doesn’t) Do: Interest Without Steering22:24 Transference Shifts & Listening to the Body: Symptoms You Can Finally ‘Read’25:02 Reading the Body: Anguish vs Sadness, Anger, Anxiety25:53 Finding Meaning in What You Say: The ‘Fracture’ of the Self in Analysis28:01 A Pumpkin Patch Breakthrough: Catching the Pattern in Real Time34:09 Sustaining the Question Mark: Impasse, Emptiness, and Inventing New Options37:10 Transference as Lived Experience: The Unconscious and the Body’s ‘Glitch’40:13 From Certainty to Uncertainty: Psychoanalysis and 12-Step Recovery Compared47:15 Closing Thoughts & Next Episode Tease: Transference and ‘Is It Hard to Be an Analyst?’

In this episode of The Subject of the Unconscious, hosts Neil Gorman and Isolda Alvarez delve into the complex topic of diagnosis within the framework of Lacanian psychoanalysis. They discuss the distinction between traditional DSM diagnoses and the Lacanian structural approach, emphasizing the unique and subjective nature of mental suffering. The conversation explores how diagnoses are used, both within and outside the psychoanalytic context, and considers the implications of labeling and over-diagnosis in contemporary mental health practices. Join Neil and Isolda as they navigate these intricate issues and set the stage for a future discussion on the concept of nonsense in psychoanalysis.

This is the pilot episode of The Subject of the Unconscious Podcast, in which Neil and Isolda discuss their motivations for creating the podcast, who they hope it will be for, and provide brief accounts of how they became interested in psychoanalysis as a practice.