Commenced in mid-2018, my PhD project relates to the psychoanalytic space, music and multimodality. Multimodality, in the case of this thesis, refers to the various factors that contribute to the physical setting in which psychoanalysis occurs – for example, its properties of sound, visuality, touch, smell and shape. My specific focus is on sound – and that most affecting sound of all – music.

The title of this thesis is – “The Multimodal Enrichment of the Psychoanalytic Space: A Proposal for Unsaturated Music”.

This website will summarily cover the scope of the PhD. I will specifically argue that there is a place, both conceptually and practically, for music in clinical psychoanalysis. The place for music will be argued to be the waiting room, not the consulting room.

The waiting room is not a place where ‘nothing happens’ – it is a liminal space, an essential part of the psychoanalytic space. When the senses are engaged, reverie happens. Music in the psychoanalytic waiting room could perform there what it does elsewhere – arouse thoughts and feelings, produce new connections and associations, and operate at the level of the pre-verbal and pre-conscious. This waiting is not just an overture to the psychoanalytic session, but an important part of the session in its own right.

Also raised in the thesis will be arguments for reconsidering the architectural design of therapy space and the sensory modalities which will be of benefit to the patient and the treating therapist. Finally, there will be a section outlining and illustrating the total office renovation undertaken in December 2019 - February 2020, completed just weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown.