Presence and Lingering: Psychoanalysis in a Mindfulness Frame

Abstract

Nowadays mindfulness has become a constituent element in various forms of psychotherapy, including psychoanalysis. This essay is my attempt to think about psychoanalysis and mindfulness together, from the starting point of Freud’s recommendation of “evenly hovering attention” as the essential psychoanalytic stance. I will look at how mindfulness and psychoanalysis could enrich each other, with a view to placing them within a framework of listening practice that might contribute to our understanding of psychotherapy.