title: On family secrets and -K.
abstract: In this paper I present a novel interpretation of family secrets. Leaning on Bion's concept of -K, the constitution of secrecy is interpreted in terms of family dynamics that actively prevent knowledge formation and mental growth. Family secrets are interpreted as a destructive process that attacks the family's truth-generating-space - the shared semiotic space within which meanings are constituted through family relationships. The paper explores the microstructure interpersonal process of -K through the analysis of Mike Leigh's movie, Secrets and Lies. Two scenes in the movie are used to demonstrate how -K is worked out in the form of a specific intersubjective semiotic endeavor that unconsciously blocks the process of meaning-making.
authors.affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, 84105. yarivo@post.bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Yariv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Orgad
mesh_terms: D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory
keywords: -K; Bion; Secrets and Lies; family secrets; intersubjectivity; semiotics