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Material Type:
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Article : printed text
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Title:
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The Sense of the Past: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects of Deferred Action (2021)
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Authors:
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Steven GROARKE
, Author
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In :
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International Journal of Psycho-Analysis (vol. 102, n° 6, 2021)
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Article on page:
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pp. 1097-1115
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Languages:
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English
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Keywords :
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Causalité
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Mémoire
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Passé
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WINNICOTT, Donald Woods
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Abstract:
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Psychoanalysis has made a singular contribution to our understanding of how we live with the past; most importantly, the concept of “deferred action” (it will become clear why I wish to retain the English translation) challenges the association of causality with a particular temporal direction, that is, the earlier-to-later direction of causal efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of “backwards causation” (as it were) based on an application of the theory of object-use to the problem of memory. I begin with some introductory comments on Winnicott’s theory of object-use, before presenting clinical observations on a patient’s emerging sense of the past. In the theoretical discussion that follows, I consider the problem of memory in light of the clinical example. A discussion of the continued importance of “deferred action” is presented together with the introduction of the concept of “reclamation” as a type of re-descriptive memory.
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