A-Kurort
Bad Pyrmont, a town situated in north-central Germany, has historically been characterised by its quest for independence. The word ‘Bad’ is commonly found in the names of German towns, helping to indicate that the town bearing this name is home to a Heilbad; that is, a Kurort.
‘Heil’ means ‘to heal’ and ‘Kur’ means ‘cure’. The former, Heilbad, refers to the existence of at least-one spa; whilst Kurort literally means ‘place of cure’. Estefania arrived at this place in Germany, and she shares a few words with us about her encounter with psychoanalysis.
She came to psychoanalysis convinced that, at the time, she was experiencing relationship problems. “After the first session, this conviction began to crumble thanks to the words of my analyst, who, in short, told me, »Relationship problems do not exist; what does exist are the individual problems that each person brings into their relationship«”.
Following this first and only couples’-session, she began her process of exploring her subjectivity and singularity. Estefania says that, “thanks to this step, she has seen and, little by little, has begun to understand more about herself”.
It has thus been a process that has allowed her to see her own part in that world which was troubling her. Something akin to what happened between Freud and his patient Dora, where together they explored the part that she, Dora, played in that world of un-ease.
According to Estefania, “her journey has not been an easy one; nevertheless, it has enabled her to see and take responsibility for her subjectivity. It has been an approach to the things embedded in her unconscious. A process of gradually dismantling”.
From the perspective of the Lacanian analytical method, this necessarily implies, in the words of Jacques-Alain Miller, a distinction from those practices “which claim to cure through self-confidence […]”. That is to say, those which, rather than dismantling, inflate the ego. Miller goes on to say, “we are not sellers of happiness or of self-confidence” (1). It is therefore a matter of exploring unconscious determinism and subjective responsibility.
Our interviewee continues, “a trip planned well in advance hadn’t worked out. During the COVID pandemic, New Zealand had closed its doors”. In her case, Germany had opened theirs. “That’s how I ended up in Germany; I quickly felt welcome, as if I were at home,” says Estefania.
It was precisely in Bad Pyrmont that she found that sense of belonging, “and love”. Today, Estefania recommends psychoanalysis to those closest to her; she says that “this experience has allowed her to find relief so that she can move forward”.
In her work, “she connects major mobile phone companies with different regions of the world where they can reach people with their technological devices”. Something which, if you like, can be likened to the invitation she extends to those close to her to make room for the word as a means of alleviating discontent. The word through the dispositive (the telephone) and the word within the analytical dispositive.
Estefania and her husband are about to return to their Kurort, Bad Pyrmont. There, to the place where she encounters the signifier of cure, where her commitment resembles psychoanalysis’s commitment to life itself. Of which its creator, Sigmund Freud, would summarise by saying that it is “eigentlich eine Heilung durch Liebe” [in reality, a cure through love] (2).
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References:
(1). MILLER, J-A & otros.: Efectos Terapéuticos Rápidos, Buenos Aires, Paidós, 2005.
(2). FREUD, S y JUNG, C. G.: Briefwechsel. Herausgegeben von William McGuire und Wolfgang Sauerländer. Frankfurt/Main, Fischer Verlag, 1984.
