Between the Analytic Third and the Family, Social, and Cultural Third - A Psychoanalytic Perspective

Abstract

The analytic third is a concept imbued with significance and importance in

psychoanalytic thought. It begins with Freud's Oedipal triangle, continues with Britton's

perspective that offers an external view (Britton 1989; Aron 2006), and culminates in the third

as a space created between the therapist and the patient, holding the tension between their

separateness and unity (Benjamin 2005; Ogden 1994). Despite the profound differences among

these forms, I have chosen to focus on the deep connection between the various types. I will

address, with the help of these theoretical positions, the mutual dependence of the analytic third

(specifically Ogden's version) and the social third, whose significant expression is the law.

Finally, I will also propose a reflection on how the existence of the therapeutic dyad is derived

from the public space, shaped by it, and how the latter either protects it or, alternatively, intrudes

upon it, threatening to drain the therapeutic space of its content.