Comments on: Maybe People Need to See Scars http://www.proofonline.org/blog/2009/11/16/maybe-people-need-to-see-scars/ mental health blog Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:38:31 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Douglas Faneuil http://www.proofonline.org/blog/2009/11/16/maybe-people-need-to-see-scars/comment-page-1/#comment-125 Douglas Faneuil Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:34:42 +0000 http://www.proofonline.org/blog/?p=242#comment-125 I've been preoccupied with the wording of this declaration, "Maybe People Need to See Scars." In the radio profile, a patient who was nearly killed by a car bomb now has a debilitating fear of parked cars. She finally settles into a kind of détente with her condition, admitting that perhaps her shame undermines a reason for her phobia; hence the titular quote. Here's what tickles me: the sentence can be heard, "Maybe people need to seize cars." On its surface, the patient's declaration reads as a sophisticated analysis of her unconscious desire to acknowledge her pain in public; read another way (not misread), her statement sounds like a petulant, selfish and utterly irrational solution. We call this a Freudian slip and not a coincidence because both meanings deserve to be considered; both reveal a truth. I love this about our unconscious, that it makes us more meaningful than we intend. Recognizing the unexpected depths of our expression is one of the great pleasures of psychotherapy – as long as we're not judgmental about what we over-hear. I’ve been preoccupied with the wording of this declaration, “Maybe People Need to See Scars.” In the radio profile, a patient who was nearly killed by a car bomb now has a debilitating fear of parked cars. She finally settles into a kind of détente with her condition, admitting that perhaps her shame undermines a reason for her phobia; hence the titular quote. Here’s what tickles me: the sentence can be heard, “Maybe people need to seize cars.” On its surface, the patient’s declaration reads as a sophisticated analysis of her unconscious desire to acknowledge her pain in public; read another way (not misread), her statement sounds like a petulant, selfish and utterly irrational solution. We call this a Freudian slip and not a coincidence because both meanings deserve to be considered; both reveal a truth.

I love this about our unconscious, that it makes us more meaningful than we intend. Recognizing the unexpected depths of our expression is one of the great pleasures of psychotherapy – as long as we’re not judgmental about what we over-hear.

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