Explore every episode of the podcast Subject of the Unconscious

Episode 6 – Transference

What is transference, really? Is it a bond, a projection, a repetition — or something more structural?

In this episode, Neil Gorman and Isolda Alvarez explore transference from a Lacanian orientation: the analyst as function rather than person, the subject supposed to know, unconscious certainty, and the role of jouissance in shaping how we relate to others. Through clinical examples — including fighting as a mode of relating and the “test” of the analyst — they discuss how repetition encounters something new in analysis, creating the possibility for change.

They also begin circling a provocative question to be taken up next time: Is being a psychoanalyst actually easier than people think?

Watch out for that certainty.
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The Article Neil referred to, about each analyst being the product of their own cure was:
The Rhinoceros and the Desire of the Analyst, by Bruno de Halleux, in Psychoanalytical Notebooks 36.

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Table of Contents:
00:25 Podcast Kickoff  

01:18 Why Talk Transference  

01:54 Defining Transference Lacanian  

03:48 Engine and Obstacle  

05:04 Analyst Function Not Person  

05:44 Bond Versus Transference  

09:03 Unconscious and Supposed Know  

11:05 Jouissance Gaze and Voice  

14:04 Reading the Analyst Role  

18:26 Case Example Fighting  

22:12 Repetition Meets New Response  

23:13 Unthought Knowns  

26:01 Certainty Becomes Suffering  

27:06 Finding the Hidden Knowledge  

27:47 Transference Reveals the Script  

29:17 Analyst Desire and Curiosity  

30:27 Patients Testing the Analyst  

33:14 Analyst as Enigma Function  

34:33 Weed Case and Nonjudgment  

37:56 Analyst Subjectivity and Cure  

41:48 Questioning Certainties and Jouissance  

44:36 Next Episode and Closing 

Neil and Isolda reunite after months away from podcasting to discuss psychoanalysis as an experience rather than an intellectual exercise. 

• They note that many people first encounter psychoanalysis through university and reading Freud, Lacan, and other theorists, but argue that reading cannot substitute for presenting oneself as an analysand. 
• They emphasize that the analytic experience involves the body, the unconscious as something lived, and a singular process in which a person begins to listen differently to their own words, symptoms, repetitions, and emotions. 
• They explore how speaking to an analyst differs from talking to friends or family: the analyst listens with interest, without a vested interest in directing decisions, and their own analytic experience shapes their responses. 
• Isolda adds that analysis creates distance from oneself and changes how one relates to others, knowledge, politics, and one’s body, including learning to distinguish feelings such as anguish, sadness, and anger. 
• Neil shares an example from a stressful outing with his children where he noticed his own pattern of anticipating problems, then brought those associations into analysis, illustrating how analytic work continues outside the session and fosters curiosity about one’s subjective reactions. 
• They discuss how analysis can open new possibilities by sustaining not-knowing, linking this to invention and to transference as both a concept and an experience. 
• Neil compares psychoanalysis to aspects of 12-step recovery in moving from certainty to uncertainty and learning to use not-knowing, while Isolda highlights the distinctive role of the unconscious as a “glitch in the system.” They consider making the next episode about transference, and Neil proposes connecting it to a question he wants to explore: whether being a psychoanalyst is hard.

00:24 Back on the Mic: Reuniting After Months Away

00:38 Today’s Topic: Psychoanalysis as a Lived Experience (Not Just Theory)

02:49 Reading vs. Being an Analysand: The ‘Textbook’ Is Your Body

07:36 Neil’s Path In: How Reading Freud Sparked the Journey

09:03 Why Speaking to an Analyst Changes Everything (Beyond Friends’ Advice)

12:54 Isolda’s Path: Analysis First, Then Lacan—And Learning to Hear Yourself

18:25 What the Analyst Does (and Doesn’t) Do: Interest Without Steering

22:24 Transference Shifts & Listening to the Body: Symptoms You Can Finally ‘Read’

25:02 Reading the Body: Anguish vs Sadness, Anger, Anxiety

25:53 Finding Meaning in What You Say: The ‘Fracture’ of the Self in Analysis

28:01 A Pumpkin Patch Breakthrough: Catching the Pattern in Real Time

34:09 Sustaining the Question Mark: Impasse, Emptiness, and Inventing New Options

37:10 Transference as Lived Experience: The Unconscious and the Body’s ‘Glitch’

40:13 From Certainty to Uncertainty: Psychoanalysis and 12-Step Recovery Compared

47:15 Closing Thoughts & Next Episode Tease: Transference and ‘Is It Hard to Be an Analyst?’

Understanding the Role of Nonsense in Psychoanalysis

In this episode of 'The Subject of the Unconscious,' hosts Neil Gorman and Isolda Alvarez delve into the topic of nonsense in Lacanian psychoanalysis. They discuss how individuals often seek psychoanalysis due to experiences that don't make sense and explore the distinction between meaning and logic. The conversation reveals how psychoanalysis addresses the unconscious logic behind behaviors and emotions that resist rational explanation. Neil and Isolda emphasize the ironic satisfaction derived from seemingly nonsensical behaviors. They also explore the concept of transforming one's relationship with symptoms from a battle to an integration into life. The episode culminates in considering why psychoanalysis is an experiential process essential for confronting and understanding one's own nonsense.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:44 Choosing the Topic of Nonsense

01:23 Exploring the Concept of Nonsense in Psychoanalysis

02:52 The Role of Diagnosis and Sense-Making

06:36 The Logic Beyond Sense

11:45 Personal Experiences with Nonsense

18:39 The Therapeutic Process and Satisfaction

40:03 Concluding Thoughts and Next Episode Teaser

In this episode of The Subject of the Unconscious, hosts Neil Gorman and Isolda Alvarez delve into the complex topic of diagnosis within the framework of Lacanian psychoanalysis. They discuss the distinction between traditional DSM diagnoses and the Lacanian structural approach, emphasizing the unique and subjective nature of mental suffering. The conversation explores how diagnoses are used, both within and outside the psychoanalytic context, and considers the implications of labeling and over-diagnosis in contemporary mental health practices. Join Neil and Isolda as they navigate these intricate issues and set the stage for a future discussion on the concept of nonsense in psychoanalysis.

In this episode of Subject of the Unvonscious Isolda & Neil speak about how psychoanalysis had changed (and how it has stayed the same) over time. 

This is the pilot episode of The Subject of the Unconscious Podcast, in which Neil and Isolda discuss their motivations for creating the podcast, who they hope it will be for, and provide brief accounts of how they became interested in psychoanalysis as a practice.