Gohar Homayounpour, "Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning" (Routledge, 2022)

Apr 21, 2025

Join Gohar Homayounpour, an acclaimed psychoanalyst and author, as she delves into the intersections of mourning and identity in her book, weaving personal loss with Persian cultural narratives. She provocatively characterizes psychoanalysis as a subversive art form for dreamers, embracing disturbance and absence. Topics include the complexities of maternal influence, the significance of the color blue, and the playful aspects of therapeutic relationships. Homayounpour also critiques modern practices, advocating for empathy over mimicry, highlighting the emotional intricacies of life's choices.

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INSIGHT

Psychoanalysis Embraces Unbelonging

Psychoanalysis and blues share a subversive, marginal voice linked to the unconscious.
Seeking "unbelonging" rather than belonging fosters difference, desire, and subjectivity.

INSIGHT

Sliding Fees Reveal Unconscious Info

Setting a sliding fee reveals unconscious information between analyst and patient.
Fixed fees risk commodifying psychoanalysis and losing vital unconscious nuances.

ADVICE

Use Playfulness in Analysis

Strive to cultivate playfulness and humor in analytic work to deepen engagement.
Playfulness often marks a positive shift, especially with melancholic patients.

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In this episode, Matthew Pieknik and Christopher Russell speak with Gohar Homayounpour about her book Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning (Routledge, 2023)

Psychoanalysis is, Homayounpour tells us early in the interview, “a profession for dreamers, for people who don't know what to do with themselves. for freaks. This is not a profession for people in suits at universities who have a clear idea of the status quo. It's the absolute opposite. It's the carnival, you know, it's still unofficial, it's the subversive because that's the discourse of the unconscious. But this is a dangerous business, you know, and it should be for both analytic subjects in the room. I'm in favor of absence. I'm in favor of disturbance. I'm in favor of pollution and darkness. I think these are things that need to be celebrated.”

In Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning, Gohar Homayounpour plays a theme and variations on loss, love, and family against the backdrop of Iran’s chaotic recent past. Homayounpour is simultaneously Shahrzad, the fearless storyteller, and Shahrzad’s analyst: subjecting fairy tales to fierce new insights, while weaving an indigo thread through her own devastation on the death of her father and the wonders and horrors of motherhood. A blue thread, or melody, runs though the separations and emigrations of her family and patients driven or broken apart by war, and likewise through the fraught world inhabited by Persian women. This book breaks new psychoanalytic ground, offering a radical rejection of traditional clichés about Iran, and Iranian women, but its unsparing elegance transcends any political agenda, bridging the ocean of a shared and tragic humanity. Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically informed readers, as well as those interested in grief, Iran, and women’s experiences.

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