Uncanny phenomena in psychotherapy

Abstract


 
 
 This paper is based on my master's thesis research into Pakeha and Maori psychotherapists' and counsellors' experiences of inexplicable phenomena while working with clients. These phenomena may take the form of 'uncanny' knowings, 'synchronistic' dreams, bizarre visual images, or 'spirit forms'. The experiences create feelings of profound loving connectedness and of being part of a greater whole where self and other, dream and reality, and time and space are not as distinct as they appear in everyday life. At these times, therapists and counsellors often describe feeling as if they have access to universal knowledge or are being spoken to by an intelligent Other. I discuss these experiences and interpretations and the problematic place these phenomena have within psychoanalytic theory whereby they have largely been excluded from discussion.