TY - JOUR A1 - Levine, Howard B. T1 - The sins of the fathers: Freud, narcissistic boundary violations, and their effects on the politics of psychoanalysis JF - International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 19 (No. 1, 2010), pp. 043-050. N2 - In contrast to the management of erotic boundaries, the institutional and clinical management of transactions across narcissistic boundaries can have far-reaching implications for how and in what ways power is wielded within our organizations. This is especially true in regard to analysts who are, or are perceived to be, in leadership positions within their psychoanalytic groups, organizations, and institutes. This paper illustrates some of the difficulties in the management of narcissistic boundaries by exploring Freud's narcissistic investment in defining the field of psychoanalysis and determining the directions of its development, his attitudes towards dissent – for example, Jung, Adler, Ferenczi, etc. – and his clinical behavior with certain analysands. The institutional consequences of Freud's failure to successfully negotiate narcissistic boundaries – and our reluctance to recognize this aspect of his leadership – have become intertwined with defenses against the epistemic anxiety that follows from the inevitably subjective nature of the analytic enterprise. Together, they have tended toward the creation of a culture of rigidity and control within organized psychoanalysis. This is a legacy – the sins of our fathers – with which our field continues to struggle. Y1 - 2010 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Levine, Howard B. T1 - Reflections on catastrophic change JF - International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 18 (No. 2, 2009), pp. 077-081. N2 - Bion asserted that the possibility of change inherent in emotional growth and development was inevitably linked to fears of catastrophe. Did he intend this to apply to all patients and parts of the mind, or only to psychotic areas of functioning? Does subsequent clinical experience substantiate the universality of this assertion? These questions will be taken up from a general theoretical perspective in an attempt to understand what Bion had in mind when he proposed this view, and a clinical case will be presented to illustrate and examine the link between catastrophe and change. Y1 - 2009 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Levine, Howard B. T1 - Social construction and psychoanalytic promise. Commentary on paper by Michael J. Bader JF - Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 12 (2002), pp. 305-315. N2 - Pizer's views challenge the traditional classical assumption that insight is the main curative factor in psychoanalysis. Instead, he sees therapeutic change following upon a process of relationally determined interactions (the negotiation of paradox). Thus, his theory of therapeutic action privileges experience and a particular form of interaction over insight and the acquisition of knowledge about the self. In this commentary, I examine Pizer's views of therapeutic action and the dialectic of insight versus experience by locating them in relation to the work and views of Elvin Semrad, a dominant figure in Boston psychoanalysis from the early 1950s until his death in 1976. Semrad played a central role in the training of Paul Russell, who, in turn, had an important influence on Pizer. Following Semrad, I suggest that self-knowledge obtained through self-reflection, whether assisted, observed, or self-mediated, serves as an important scaffold on which experience and sense of self are integrated or constructed and gives continuity, coherence, and meaning to life. I believe that this dimension of human growth and development has been underemphasized in Pizer's work and needs to be better integrated into his and other relational, two-person models of therapeutic action. Y1 - 2002 ER -