THE PROCESS PARADIGM IN PSYCHIATRY: ON TERMS – SECONDARY PROCESSES
Secondary processes refer to all other processes which an individual does not experience as belonging to him, and which he speaks about as if they happened to him from the outside, or as caused by another agent. For example, ‘My leg is killing me,’ ‘The police are after me,’ The world is against me,’ or ‘This other person helps me,’ etc. are statements which express that the leg, the police, the world and a helper are the names of secondary processes. These processes are further from awareness; they are projected and experienced outside of the individual who expresses them. Both primary and secondary processes are only partially conscious.The individual identity is connected to the primary process. Consciousness is a term which I use only for those moments in which the individual is aware of primary and secondary processes. Consciousness refers to a reflective awareness, to the existence of a metacommunicator, someone who is able to talk about his experiences and perceptions.I use the term double signals to refer to expressions coming from a person which are part of his secondary processes, information with which he is not able to identify himself in a given moment. The reader interested in the background to these terms is referred to the first chapter of River’s Way.*24\227\8*
