Psychoanalytic Freedom and The Loving Gaze

Presented by: Shir Shanun, PhD

Civitarese (2024) writes we have a need to exist in the eyes of others, it is what makes relationships meaningful. Such loving connections and freedom in complex analytic system and the positive relationship between them are at the center of this paper. I will argue that restriction or expansion of one impacts the other. I define freedom—as an emergent component within the analytic complex system that reflects an increase in perspectives a person has and experiences; and the loving gaze—as an integral constituent of the conditions that support recognition and an indicator of movement toward or away from recognition and connection. The use of Giuseppe Civitarese’s model of Post Bionian Field Theory (BFT) and Daniel Goldin’s Storying, supports the emergence of both loving gaze and freedom including more freedom to address the socio-political and transform our experience into a loving gaze experience. 

In this paper a clinical example will demonstrate a moment of restricted freedom in the context of socio-political impingement. We will explore its transformation into a loving gaze experience using BFT and storying techniques. It will exemplify how when our loving gaze is restricted toward the other and toward ourselves, our freedom is restricted. Whereas we might feel a more intimate connection when we experience more freedom in our relatedness.  

Agenda

  • 7:30 – 7:35 pm Introduction
  • 7:35 – 8:30 pm Presentation
  • 8:30 – 9:00 pm Presenter-led question and answer session

Learning Objectives

  1. Describe the concept of the loving gaze.
  2. Describe how field perspective can increase freedom modulated by the loving gaze.

Presenter

Shir Shanun, PhD

Shir Shanun, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist in Arcadia, California. Shir is an editorial board member at Psychoanalytic Inquiry and the creator and host of Connections and Conversation. She is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context.

References

Civitarese, G. (2023). We-ness as. An expansion of Bion’s psychoanalytic Function of intuition. Fort Da, 29, 7-16.

Coburn, W. J. (2023). Freedom and self-ownership: An emergence theory of free will. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 18(3) 2-18. DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2281404

Goldin, D. (2022). A Male Glance At The “Male Gaze”. Psychoanalytic inquiry. 42(7) 601-610.