Abstract
This paper will focus on the topic of listening as an ‘analytic act’ by the analyst (but also by the analysand) and its relation to ethics and the position of the analyst in the field of psychosis. Is the analyst listening for something in particular? The prospect of listening for something supposes that the analyst holds a specific idea of what distinguishes the ‘structure of the address’ in psychosis (versus neurosis). Typically, we say that the analyst is listening for the unconscious, or for the ‘subject’ (of the unconscious). As we are trying to find our bearings in the field of psychosis then we also must ask ‘what is the difference between the subject in/of psychosis and, say, the subject of neurosis? What does the subject of psychosis sound like? Furthermore, what ethical guides are at the analyst’s disposal so that the analyst can hear it? As a way to explore these clinical and conceptual questions, I will discuss a clinical example where a person experiencing psychosis faces a choice, under transference, to either remain in his delusion or to exit his delusion by way of an opening precipitated by a rupture that led to doubt. I will explore how the analyst’s position functioned as a placeholder for doubt and how a certain type of listening offered the patient a way to listen to his voices and distressing beliefs (AKA delusions) in a different way. The subject of psychosis guides the treatment, and it is his choice to develop a new ethic by way of listening to his voices and speech, and to the failure of delusion. It is also her choice to ‘follow’ the new opportunities (and freedoms) that the failure of his delusion offers.
Recommended Citation
Fimiani, B. (2026). An Ethics of Listening: The Rupture of Delusion and the Offer of a New Freedom. Middle Voices, 3 (2). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/middle_voices/vol3/iss2/3