Exploring the other dark continent: parallels between psi phenomena and the psychotherapeutic process.

This paper will explore the relevance of the subject of psi phe­ nomena to important topics in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, such as intersubjectivity, projective identification, and the inte­ gration of primary and secondary process experience. “Psi” is a general term referring to kinds of information transfer or com­ munication that exceed common understanding of how such communication takes place. Psi includes telepathy (mind­to­mind communication), clairvoyance (environment­to­mind communi­ cation), and psychokinesis (the capacity to influence a physical system or move an object in the absence of any known physical means of doing so). Psi has, for the most part, been shunned as a serious topic of psychoanalytic inquiry. Upon closer examination, however, it ap­ pears to share common ground with aspects of the therapeutic bond, transference and countertransference, the intersubjective field, and integration of conscious and unconscious processes. In fact, at this critical point in the history of psychoanalysis, when the field is attempting to validate its techniques and process through evidence­based research, the search for scientific validation of psi phenomena may actually have outpaced the search for such vali­ dation of psychoanalysis. Scientific studies of psi phenomena, some of which are described here, can help to elucidate some of the more uncanny aspects of therapeutic action.