Desire as Gateway to Interconnectedness: Reply to Burton and Harris

Abstract

This brief response discusses the analyst’s management of erotic stimulation, engaging Noelle Burton’s questions about how differences in hormonal levels between males and females might influence the analyst’s capacity to contain his/her sexual desires toward patients. More subtle manifestations of erotic themes in male patients’ transference toward female analysts are considered. Adrienne Harris’ Laplanchian analysis of the case of Blake is also examined, focusing on the transformational potential of the convergence between erotic elements from the analyst’s personal history and the patient’s projections. The possible defensive function of heightened sexual arousal is explored, as well as its capacity to serve as conduit to the attainment of transcendental interconnectedness.