Quantum alchemy: New model of psychological transference. Re-visioning bodies in therapeutic relationship

Derlacki, D. B. T. (2001). Quantum alchemy: New model of psychological transference. Re-visioning bodies in therapeutic relationship. (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2001). UMI no. 3008490

This dissertation will attempt to modernize the classical psychoanalytic concept of the transference. Freud's brilliant initial insights into the existence, nature, and mechanisms of the transference phenomena were all formulated and consistent with the prevailing science of his day: the dualistic Cartesian paradigm of material realism that strictly separated mind from body and subject from object. The transference was originally envisioned as a mental process, an intrapsychic phenomenon carried by images projected back and forth between the minds of two discrete and isolated individuals. Transference by projection belies a belief in mind-body dualism and subject-object separation. This dissertation will challenge the notion of transference by projection that occurs by an imaginal exchange of images between separated minds. Separation of mind and body no longer exists in the modern quantum paradigm. Psyche could not project without involving soma; the transference must have an embodied component. As quantum mechanical bodies, no clear skin boundaries separate us. Rather, each of us is a radiant, emitting, resonant, vibrating being in constant and continuous energetic exchange with others. Newly embodied, the transference phenomena, rather than shared imaginal psychic projections, becomes a literal overlap of body-generated fields. This is a theoretical dissertation utilizing the thematic hermeneutical method. The literature reviews are organized in overlapping concentric circles, spokes on the wheel surrounding the hub of quantum alchemy, a new model of psychological transference. The conclusion reached by this dissertation is that an energetic exchange accompanies every meeting between two resonant quantum bodies. The transference is not a solely intrapsychic phenomenon. Rather, the interaction between two people takes place in a broad sphere—the interactive field. Every meeting is actually a mixing, a wave symphony of colliding electromagnetic fields. The transference is a psychosomatic process. The self of the healer/therapist is definitely an instrument of healing, and this is not just psyche, but resonant body as well. A therapist becomes an agent of healing through his or her bodily presence. Rather than just a projection between minds, the transference is also a synchronistic co-resonance between bodies.