Listening to Silence

SUMMARY. I have examined the function of silence ‐ its possible role and meanings ‐ in the psychoanalytic encounter. I have argued that silence is complementary to words in general, and to analytic free‐associations in particular, and that silence in the patient is often more than just the expression of his resistance. It could be useful to consider the silent space within a session as a sort of container of words ‐words that, for complex, over‐determined, unconscious reasons cannot be uttered. I have insisted on the significance of analytic silences and warned against responding to them either through a retaliatory silence or through a flood of premature interpretations. These inadequate reactions often stem from the analyst's own anxiety evoked in him by the patient's silence. Anxiety and silence are closely connected. Each silence is a compromise formation, concealing the unconscious fantasy from which it originates, while expressing a conscious one, often related to the transference situation. It is the task of the analyst to listen to his patient's silences in order to help him understand their meanings.