Where it happens

This morning I read a lovely piece, an interview that was on CBS Sunday Morning -- The evolution of the psychoanalyst's office. Mark Gerald, a photographer and psychoanalyst has for some time been photographing psychoanalysts and their offices. You can see some of his photos here. A wonderful variety of consulting rooms, some visually busy, others with a zen-like spareness.  In the interview Gerald says, sounding almost Jungian,  a very central thing, I think, in my project and in the interest of psychoanalytic offices, in that all of the objects in the analyst's office, whether they're intentionally designed or brought in, or created, have meaning. 'Cause psychoanalysis is a practice of looking at and trying to understand the meaning of experience, and not only the surface meaning, but the more underlying meaning. I have long been interested in the spaces therapists create in which to do their work. A therapist I saw long ago had his office in the basement of his home -- the room was very small and dark and cluttered. He filled most of the space with his big body and even bigger personality. I did supervision with an analyst whose office was in a professional building and the space was devoid of anything that seemed personal -- the art and plant and even the furniture seemed neutral and indeed, adhering as he did to Robert Lang's ideas about what an therapy office should be, it was intentionally impersonal.
Source: Jung At Heart - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs