From Theory to Clinical Practice: Psychoanalytic Complexity Theory and the Lived Experience of Complexity

Psychoanalytic complexity theory expands our understanding of the psychotherapeutic process and action, as many others have demonstrated, but it also enhances our grasp of the phenomenology of complexity, that is, the feeling of living in and with the irreducible complexity of human experience, of being open to novelty, and of embracing the vulnerability that our human existential uncertainty entails. In this article, I contend that the clinical value of psychoanalytic complexity theory is intertwined with the theoretical description of complexity. I describe the ways that my technical theoretical awareness of complexity supported my work with a challenging patient—ultimately promoting a relational process that supported our ability to live at “the edge of chaos” and enabling the patient to embrace formerly unrecognized life possibilities.