WHEN TIME DISAPPEARS

Abstract: Time, especially the various temporal dimensions in the psychoanalytic process, serves as a crucial reference point for psychoanalysts. Whether it involves accompanying the patient in the inscription of subjective time within historicity, the rhythms of interaction between analyst and patient, or the inherent differences found in the consulting room between the patient’s time and the analyst’s time – whether synchronized or unsynchronized – both patient and analyst traverse a sequence of time together, leaving an imprint on the psychic reality of both. This phenomenon is not exclusive to the analytic relationship, but is also found in everyday interactions. One of the most intriguing forms of these alignments occurs when this process happens through the sharing of dreams. However, when those who share their dreams find themselves in a reality that takes on nightmarish dimensions, such as war and its horrors, not only are dreams marked by this violent intrusion of psychic reality, but so is their sharing. This work focuses on how subjective time is altered in a concentrationary universe, using some of the dreams recounted by Charlotte Beradt in her unsettling work “The Third Reich of Dreams” (Das Dritte Reich des Traums).