Homonyms and Polysemy as Psycho-Analytic Session Events

Consonant words (homonyms) and ambiguity (polysemy) are subjective and intersubjective events of language slippage and speech acts in the analytic session. The ambiguity of speech reflects mental development, the sediments of first significant experiences and pre-symbolic communication. Homonyms are an opportunity to listen in a non-common way to what is excluded from the analytical process and from life. They expand the analytical space by a dimension not lived before. They open the mind for play and imagination, testify of the ambiguity, of the „informative unfixedness“ of symbols. They remove speech from consciously controlled discourse and established linguistic frameworks. They introduce a new movement into analytical work and encourage self-analysis. The unconscious meaning of the homonyms and their transmission message often become apparent with distance, sometimes only after the analysis is complete (aprés-coup). Homonyms can both reveal and conceal – they are creative in nature, can bridge unbereable feelings or be used in a protective way.