@article{GerhardtSweetnam, author = {Gerhardt, Julie and Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Reply to Grotstein, Goldner, and Hamilton}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 043-092.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 043-092.}, abstract = {This paper on Bollas is part 2 of a series presenting the work of three contemporary theorists whose ideas are associated with the intersubjective turn in psychoanalysis. Part 1, on Benjamin, appeared in an earlier issue of Psychoanalytic Dialogues (Vol. 10, No. 1) Part 3, on Ehrenberg, will appear in a subsequent issue. The present paper presents the work of Christopher Bollas and attempts to show how his ideas have evolved in a more intersubjective direction over time without losing touch with what is paradigmatically psychoanalytic. Although our own authorial positioning is never quite declared, as our intention was to write a representational text characterizing Bollas's thinking regarding the issue of intersubjectivity, we have come to realize the unannounced selectivity of our interpretive position or biases - biases that never quite speak their name yet, as in all unnamed/disclaimed actions, exert their influence throughout. Not surprising for a paper on the intersubjective turn. Nevertheless, it should be noted that our intent was to foreground Bollas's theorizing as related to the intersubjective turn in its own right - indeed, to get lost in the dense foliage of his rich and generous theoretical-clinical thinking, as he in turn gets lost in the underground maze of his patient's inner world. What should be stated from the outset is that the tradition of cosmopolitan humanistic learning can be heard like the overtones of a gorgeous chord throughout all of Bollas's deeply thoughtful work and illustrates the layerings of self resounding in the conscious-unconscious psyche. Indeed, Bollas serves as one of the most creative interlocutors of unconscious processes, superbly adequate to the task of sleuthing the twists and turns of the unconscious as lived out through the self's idiomatic ways of being in the world.}, language = {en} } @article{GerhardtSweetnam, author = {Gerhardt, Julie and Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Reply to Louis A. Sass}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 107-114.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 107-114.}, abstract = {In this brief. Reply to Bollas's commentary on our paper about his work, the cycles of intersubjective dialogue endlessly sustaining should be apparent. We begin with an example of the form - content distinction and attempt to use it as a springboard for further disentangling some of the nuances of Bollas's intersubjective theorizing. Bollas's emphasis on form over content as a means of conceptualizing the analyst's contribution to the analytic process is indeed compelling. We all know from both sides of the couch the profoundly different meanings and messages that an analyst's mien invites: whether she's abrupt, verbose, meditative, tranquil. Yes, the medium is the message, and, thus, whether the analyst conveys a message through the effects of form that Bollas points out, such as >We have all the time you need for the nuances of unconscious figuring< versus >This is hot - we hafta figure it out now< surely does have an effect on the psychic material produced in the analytic process. We go on to add to Bollas's discussion of form by considering the particularities of form and how these too affect the analytic process.}, language = {en} } @article{Sweetnam, author = {Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Fractured Fairy Tales: Commentary on Paper by Susan Fairfield}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 06 (1996), pp. 437-459.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 06 (1996), pp. 437-459.}, abstract = {Each of us holds unconscious representations of man and woman. Traditional psychoanalytic theories have viewed gender as formed primarily through unconscious representations of either man or woman. These theories have linked gender identifications to the resolution of either oedipal or preoedipal developmental issues. With this resolution, gender identifications have been conceptualized as acquiring a cohesiveness and a fixed nature over the rest of the life span. Contemporary feminist theories have challenged these ideas of fixed, unitary identifications and have offered instead the notion of a fluid gender that moves between multiple identifications. What is problematic is that either the understanding of gender has been restricted to the idea of singular, fixed identifications because of the linear frame of traditional theories or, in the feminist psychoanalytic quest for multiplicity and fluidity, no place has been left for the more fixed quality of gender experience. The tension between gender rigidity and fluidity has been collapsed. The author argues that the complex and dialectical nature of gender as an aspect of experience that at times feels sure and fixed and at other times feels more open to fluidity and change must be accounted for in gender theory. She traces the major developments in the psychoanalytic gender literature and, through case vignettes, uses Klein's and Ogden's formulations of the psychological positions to illustrate how the dialectical movement between the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive positions continuously recontextualizes gender such that the tension between fixed and fluid experience is maintained.}, language = {en} } @article{Sweetnam, author = {Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Patients' unconscious plans for solving their problems}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 09 (1999), pp. 327-348.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 09 (1999), pp. 327-348.}, abstract = {A gendered person lives in and creates a gendered body. Through the sexual life of the couple, two gendered bodies come together. In this paper, I draw on case material to illustrate how a multitude of sensations associated with what it feels like to be a man or a woman is aroused, affirmed, and created as one dimension of sexual experience. I suggest that these gender sensations may be organized through the three psychological positions - autistic-contiguous, paranoid-schizoid, and depressive. The movement among all three positions gives different shapes to sensory-based gender experience - each position making its own unique contributions to the qualities of what it feels like to be a man or a woman. In one case, I consider the possibility that gender transformation occurred through an unconscious intersubjective erotic third - the body of the couple - created between the patient and her husband.}, language = {en} } @article{Sweetnam, author = {Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Performativity, transsexualism, and benevolent psychopathology some psychoanalytic reflections on postmodernist views of sexuality}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 09 (1999), pp. 363-370.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 09 (1999), pp. 363-370.}, language = {en} } @misc{Sweetnam, author = {Sweetnam, Annie}, title = {Review Essay: Self-Reflections}, series = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 861-884.}, journal = {Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 861-884.}, abstract = {Several years ago, I talked about a case in a clinical seminar. I presented the work in a style that is different from usual because I was experimenting with how to best evoke the experience of being with this patient for my listeners. This paper is a continuation of that presentation, now through written rather than spoken word. In writing it, I struggled with the same dilemma of how to evoke the ambience, the feel of being with this patient. I begin with a discussion of some of the dilemmas involved in writing up clinical work when the aim is to stay close to the experience rather than to illustrate theoretical or technical points. I present a few sample vignettes of my work with this patient and then an analysis of how my writing style, including use of sounds, grammar, and word placement, contributes to evoking experience. I continue with a brief discussion of my experiences in presenting the case in the seminar and use these experiences to highlight aspects of the case. I ask the reader to become personally involved in the experiment by paying attention to what is evoked when reading the material.}, language = {en} }