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Janine de Peyer
To cite this article: Janine de Peyer (2021) Portals through Liminal Space: Commentary on
Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow’s “Varieties of Clinical Intuition”, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 31:3,
294-301, DOI: 10.1080/10481885.2021.1902738
Article views: 47
ABSTRACT
In this commentary of Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow’s “Varieties of
Clinical Intuition” (this issue), I discuss the clinical implications of
their integrative model of intuition, examining both the value and
potential hazards of moments of local (sensory-based) and non
local (non-sensory-based) intuitive knowing. While considering
the desire to enhance one’s own natural intuitive capacity,
I explore the riches and potential complications faced by clini
cians whose personal boundaries are pierced by their patients’
accurate intuitive dreams.
I experienced a surge of excitement while reading Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow’s (this issue)
comprehensive explication of the differences, yet inescapable coexistence, of local and
nonlocal intuition. Having previously endeavored to grasp the ineffable phenomenon of
telepathy,1 I took pleasure in digesting the various ingredients these authors synthesize to
form an integrative scientific language for intuitive experience. Combining neuropsychoa
nalysis, psychophysiology, Psi research, complexity science, and quantum neurobiology, the
authors call for a “metaphor shift” that bridges divides, enabling a “unified picture of
psychophysical reality” (p. 262). Each ingredient carefully primed and dissected, blends
like tastes and textures of a satisfying meal, coalescing into an integrative model that
attempts the impossible—to explain the “continuous interplay between sensory local-
interactive and extrasensory nonlocal-partipatory channels of awareness” (p. 278).
The authors’ nonlocal neurodynamics model brings us closer than ever to a scientific
explanation for intuition, yet it is their clinical vignettes that humanize this otherwise
complicated mosaic—storytelling thus breathing life into an otherwise abstract array of
ideas. What clinical implications can we draw from their discoveries? What are we to
actually do when such uncanny moments of local or nonlocal information penetrate the veil
of an otherwise routine daily psychotherapy session?
The authors offer four clinical vignettes depicting four distinct forms of intuitive
experience. While delving into the clinical implications of each example, I will draw
correlations with experiences of my own, holding three pivotal questions in mind:
CONTACT Janine de Peyer, LCSW jdepeyer@gmail.com 245 East 72nd Street, Suite 1C, New York, NY 10021.
1
De Peyer (2014, 2016, 2017, in press).
Copyright © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
PSYCHOANALYTIC DIALOGUES 295
When associative intuition takes linguistic form, such as a “slip of the tongue,” a word
might ‘accidentally’ push forth, unwittingly capturing an image or memory that contains
deep significance for the patient. Such was the case with my patient “Jordan,” when at
a critical moment of clinical impasse I involuntarily blurted out the word “Tuckahoe” when
attempting to say “Timbuktu” (De Peyer, 2016). Unbeknownst to me, the name “Tuckahoe”
carried a profound symbolic meaning of safety for my patient, representing the location
where she would go to hide in order to escape her brother’s brutal physical attacks. This
moment of uncanny associative intuition took us both by surprise, shifting us out of
impasse by conveying an other-worldly level of interconnectedness. The word
“Tuckahoe” provided a symbolic “solution” to Jordan’s current threat of loss of safety.
How had my mind come up with this precise name? I had never before heard the name
“Tuckahoe.” Wondering at first how Jordan had “transmitted” this name to me, I arrived at
the conclusion (in alignment with Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow’s thesis), that the name had
not been telepathically “sent” to me. Rather, our heightened relational impasse had some
how pierced the veil of sensory-based, associative relating, giving us “mutual accessibility to
a shared realm of consciousness;” a nonlocal “wavelength of archetypal imagery” from
which I had involuntarily plucked the name “Tuckahoe” (De Peyer, in press).
Are the “rabbit” and “Tuckahoe” examples solely representative of associative intuition?
Or, is there overlap with the somatic/affective? How do we differentiate between the two? It
seems to me that somatic/affective involvement played a key role in both examples—the
patient’s fear activating both Shapiro’s and my own right brain, implicit, sensory system in
resonance with our patients’. Although Shapiro had only observed the rabbit earlier on his
lawn, it is likely that he had also empathically resonated with the experience of the rabbit.
Perhaps it was shared unconscious resonance with “fear” that formed the nonlocal correla
tion linking rabbit, Shapiro, and his patient. What exactly happens when we resonate with
one another’s emotions? What is the relationship between empathy and intuition? Does
affect invite a form of resonance that goes beyond localized, sensory intuition? I believe it is
often affect (in this case fear) that provides the portal, or “bridge” to the nonlocal mind, thus
giving access to both associative and somatic intuitive information.
similar to Marks-Tarlow’s case, I learned I had intuitively become the receptacle for
dissociated sexualized trauma Richard had experienced as a boy. I initially embodied
dissociated feelings of terror, shame, vulnerability, and victimization from Richard’s child
hood, yet our unfolding sadomasochistic dynamic provided the pathway for mutual projec
tions and counter-identifications that could eventually be articulated and “re-metabolized”
over time. My initial fear provided the clue, yet I learned that unconscious somatic
receptivity goes both ways—patients can also serve as receptacles for therapists’ dissociated
experience. It was challenging for me to have to later realize that Richard had also been
embodying my dissociated aggression.
As in Marks-Tarlow’s case, I tolerated and observed my experience of fear until its
meaning became clearer and I could use it productively. My patient probably sensed
(possibly even enjoying) my suffering while our sadomasochistic dynamic unfolded, but
as with Marks-Tarlow, the intuitive information had to be processed before I could feel
ready for self-disclosure. Premature self-disclosure can sometimes collapse otherwise
receptive, potential space. My work with Richard taught me that psychic porousness in
the therapist can be both an asset and a liability, “sometimes summoning the therapist to
‘lose control’ of the treatment in order to ‘find’ the patient” (De Peyer, in press).
Acknowledging the accuracy of a patient’s dream might allow the patient to feel
exquisitely close to their analyst; however, it could also be overwhelming and dysregulating.
The choice of whether or not to disclose the dream’s accuracy would depend, like every
thing else, on the mental states of both patient and analyst, the nature of the dream, and the
intersubjective particularities of the analytic dyad.
The analyst’s own dreams about her patients can, of course, be enormously informative,
whether explicitly shared or not. Analysts frequently use their own dreams as metaphoric
guides to treatments without ever directly disclosing them to their patients (Ferro, 2009;
Stern, 2013). Conversely, in some treatments, the mutual sharing of dreams between patient
and analyst might be plausible; even deeply curative. This is where heeding the potential
“shadow-side” of one’s own intuition is important, lest one slip into over-sharing, or under-
estimating the implications of analytic asymmetry.
In Vignette 4, the patient’s dream intersects with the objective reality of his analyst who
did, indeed, have a tooth extracted. This dream therefore not only involved the analyst but
also a third party in objective reality—the dentist. When a dreamer’s dream intersects with
the “reality” of his analyst’s life, we truly see nonlocal participatory channels of intuition at
work. Subjective and objective domains dissolve into “fractal boundaries” that defy time and
space (Marks-Tarlow & Shapiro, in press) and the analyst faces a difficult predicament;
whether or not to share with the patient the accuracy of their dream.
In Vignette 4, the analyst (Dr. L) does confirm the accuracy of his patient’s (Rowan Scott’s)
dream about him, but he does so at the very end of the session, leaving us wondering how
Dr. Scott reacted to his analyst’s admission. When my own patient Jordan recounted a dream
that exactly matched a horrifying medical emergency that had taken place in my own home that
previous weekend, my feeling of intrusion escalated to new proportions leaving me unable, at
that moment, to confirm her dream (De Peyer, 2016, p. 167). In Jordan’s dream, she had
awakened in the middle of the night to find her husband sitting doubled over on the toilet,
losing blood. The details were identical to events that had occurred with my own husband. How
had she “known” what had happened in my home? Feeling utterly unnerved, and barely having
had time to recover from my real emergency, I found myself speechless and in no condition to
engage with her about the accuracy of her dream. This dream, the culmination of several
uncanny experiences I had had with Jordan, convinced me beyond a shadow of doubt, however,
that we were co-participating in an entangled system that defied space-time as we know it.
Much later, after careful consideration, I did feel ready to tell my patient about the
accuracy of her dream in the context of a larger discussion about our uncanny “porousness.”
Although she felt heartened by the psychic closeness these uncanny events affirmed and the
underlying “glue” that they afforded us, Jordan nonetheless told me she also felt wary of
having future dreams about me lest she’d feel “burdened” with information she’d rather not
have to carry. Significantly, after that discussion, to my knowledge, no further uncanny
exchanges took place between us. Perhaps we each needed to withdraw, closing off aware
ness of our psychic portals in need of shoring up our respective subjectivities.
Clinical timing
Even if one’s intuition does prove, through informed experience, to be accurate, the patient
may still not be ready to hear it. The skillful clinician will “intuit” the manner, and timing
with which to introduce intuitive material. The “art” of psychoanalysis depends upon
careful attunement, wherever possible, to the patient’s experience, and commitment to
working through with earnest repair when things go awry.
So, can one, in fact, train oneself to increase intuitive awareness? Contemplative practices
such as meditation and breathing techniques do appear to increase one’s porousness. Sitting
quietly before sessions, then releasing one’s mind of memory or desire (Bion, 1967) indeed
seems to promote both local and nonlocal intuitive receptivity.
Humanistic psychotherapists such as Stanislav Grof (2000) draw from ancient and
aboriginal techniques to promote regression into nonordinary states of consciousness,
ranging from breathwork, to drumming, dance, sensory deprivation, meditation, yoga,
and use of organic psychedelic materials. His “holotropic breathwork” approach integrates
accelerated breathing, evocative music, and bodywork (p. 183). Certainly, these approaches
are an acquired taste, but we have much to learn from ancient cultures about gaining access
to transpersonal, transcendent states of consciousness.
Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow’s contributions to nonlocal neurodynamics come at a time of
increased curiosity within the mainstream scientific, and psychoanalytic communities about
altered states of consciousness. Scientific explanations for intuitive perception (stereotypi
cally relegated to the feminine) help de-stigmatize these explorations. Recent controlled
studies at Johns Hopkins and New York Universities, for example, have attempted to
measure the correlation between “mystical experience” and the alleviation of depression
and anxiety in cancer patients who have undergone treatment with psychedelics (Nichols
et al., 2017). In further studies, neurocognitive approaches are being applied to the study of
transcendent states (Glickson & Ohana, 2011), and telepathy research is finally garnering
serious scientific respect (Cardeña et al., 2014).
In my own clinical practice, in addition to attempting to quiet my mind, I listen for
musical tones, colors, and visual images that help draw me to the center of my patients’ pain.
I have found that the integration of somatically informed practices such as EMDR (Parnell,
2006; Shapiro, 2001) has also helped increased my receptivity. While practicing bilateral
stimulation (applied through visual, auditory, or tactile methods), the patient enters
a nonverbal, enhanced, more fluid associative state. During these moments of silence, I am
liberated to attune to my own body, engaging in a form of reverie that can yield spontaneous
imagery. These associations transcend the patient’s chronological history, offering informa
tion that can be useful in the form of empathic interventions, or focused cognitive “inter
weaves.” Since we exist on the threshold of intuitive relating, psychoanalytic practice only
stands to benefit from cross-fertilization with both ancient, and contemporary practices.
Acknowledgements
I thank Shapiro and Marks-Tarlow for providing a scientific framework for this enchanted instru
ment that ultimately unites us all.
Notes on contributor
Janine de Peyer, LCSW, is Faculty and Supervisor at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies,
and Faculty, Supervisor and Executive Committee member at the Stephen Mitchell Relational Study
Center, New York. Janine is Associate Editor with Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and is in private practice
in New York City where she integrates EMDR and creative visualization within a relational psycho
analytic framework.
PSYCHOANALYTIC DIALOGUES 301
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