Turbulent Contextualism: Bearing Complexity Toward Change

Abstract

Recently, psychoanalysis has approbated physical science concepts to explain the momentum of clinical work. This article continues in that tradition with turbulent contextualism, a theoretical system that describes the necessary yet destabilizing and chaotic elements of change, which occur in the psychoanalytic process. With turbulent contextualism, the emergence of new solutions in the psychoanalytic environment is connected to the capacity of the psychoanalyst and the patient to bear complexity and be able to accept the nonlinear nature of change. The article concludes with an application of turbulent contextualism to two clinical cases. The first case details the use of this model in a long-term psychoanalytic treatment. The second case uses the same ideas to explore my own personal development and self-definition, which were consolidated through the process of writing this article.