A psychoanalyst in search of the logic of the absurd
It is there in our night dreams, in our Freudian slips, in our jokes… Bewildering situations incite us to search for meanings and explanations elsewhere, even when these lie beyond evidence-based facts
DAVID DORENBAUM
OCT 03, 2024 - 05:02 COT
During a therapy session, one of my patients, perplexed by the furor over the U.S. election, tells me: “I’ve never been interested in politics, let alone U.S. politics. So why can’t I take my eyes off that antiquated cartoon character [Trump]?” To which he himself replies: “Because it’s absurd… a farce.” Another patient, middle-aged and with a successful career, comes to see me, tormented by an order that states: “If you don’t pray two hours before going to work, you’ll be fired.” And he asks: “If it’s absurd, why do I do it?” The more vivid his obsessive experience, the more compelling the compulsion.