Coming Alive in the Consulting Room: Toward a New Analytic Sensibility

Abstract

aspects are clearly addressed by the author. Levine uses the termmyth making to describe the constructions that his mind makes and that are stimulated by the relationship with his patient. In this way, a narrative is initiated. Words resonate with emotions, which in turn mobilize aspects with a representation deficit at the same time as they are attracted by already constituted symbols. Representations are created that mend the deficient areas, recalling that the constructions made by the words are less important than the emotions that are being shared in the here and now of the session. This expansion of the capacity to dream and think will travel in unforeseeable directions and will have no end. Just as there will be attacks on connections and on the symbolization processes— fruit of destructive drives that are always present. The richness of the themes addressed by Levine extends to the question of truth, autism and ASD, mind-body relationships, and psychosomatics. Levine offers us a text that is creative and stimulating. At the same time as he discusses his own ideas, he takes us on a pleasant stroll through important aspects of contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, connecting authors from different latitudes and detailing their similarities and differences. The clinical examples aid in deepening these ideas. The author’s ability to present complex ideas in a clear way, but without losing any depth, provides fertile ground for the reader who feels like a co-creator of the text. I am certain that reading this book will make the reader feel emotionally and intellectually enriched.