Time in Practice

Analytical Perspectives on the Times of Our Lives

This book is an original exploration of the importance in the analytical relationship of an attentiveness to lived, conscious and unconscious experiences of time in its three dimensions. It critically discusses the diverse concepts of time implied in different writings in the psychoanalytic tradition, namely those of Freud, Jung, Klein, Lacan, and Winnicott. "Time in Practice" highlights the limitations of spatial metaphors and the emphasis on the past as determinative. It discusses the contributions of modern European philosophical concepts of temporality. Eva Hoffman's interweaving of time and language in her autobiographical descriptions is shown to be crucially relevant to psychoanalytic practices. Exploring psychoanalytic notions of 'cure', the book emphasizes the importance of language and imagination in opening out future possibilities for the patient. Lively references to case material illustrate the relevance of its arguments.