Composition and Identifying Metaphors

In certain cases, the psychoanalyst's creativity can express itself through a work of composition, which consists in providing the patient with figures capable of stimulating the individual process of identification. One form of such compositional work – metaphorization – shows us the existence of a paradox at the heart of this process: metaphors can reveal certain alienating identifications or terrifying experiences by deforming them. The identificatory function of a metaphor rests on its position in the field of language, where it represents the equivalent of a kind of enfolding gaze, one that does not efface the individual.