Dyssynchrony, Surprise, and Multiple Perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACT The author, inspired by Anni Bergman’s work with an autistic child, describes a single play session in her work with a neurodiverse child. In this session, the first session following a missed appointment, the analyst attempts to “make sense out of nonsense” by choosing the child’s words she hopes to use as building blocks for a coherent narrative about separation and reunion, while passing over the words she finds unintelligible. A microanalysis of the analytic process reveals themes of dyssynchrony, surprise, and multiple perspectives. Using these themes to organize the meanings she takes from the verbal and nonverbal exchange in the session, she concludes that the experience of working with this – and other – neurodiverse patients offers the analyst a unique opportunity to challenge the usefulness of their clinical theories and to embrace a greater complexity. In doing so, the analyst is able to appreciate the essence of “co-creative meaning-making.”