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The distinction between the having mode and the being mode seems to be the basis of E. FROMM's clinical approach, which finds its main application in the center-to-center relatedness between analyst and patient. Analysts can understand a patient because they experience what the patient experiences. The dialog is based on reciprocally communicated emotional and conceptual responses and reactions; both identities come into play. The psychoanalytic session can save itself from the having mode by addressing the patient's living memory, which represents the past relived in the present, according to the being mode. Case material from a psychoanalytic session with a 31-yarr-old woman is included. (German and Spanish abstracts.)
>Umenie verit<
(1996)
A Commentary
(1996)
A Commentary
(1996)
Sandra Buechler's commentary provides an interesting counterpoint to Mar-golies's chapter. She observes that Fromm believed work should be an expres-sion and a vehicle for self-development and that this urge transcends historical circumstance. She questions whether the categories we create hinder or en-hance our understanding. She believes the self-developer category may have blinded the therapist to other aspects of the treatment. Her own reading of the clinical material would have led her to focus on different aspects of the patient, such as his narcissism and his sadistic sexual fantasies. Margolies would argue that these pathological elements were declining as he worked through old com-promise solutions and developed life-affirming passions in work and love-particularly as he strengthened the positive strivings of his social character ori-entation.
Mauricio Cortina evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of Fromm's model of human nature and motivation by contrasting Freud's and Fromm's approach to the problem. Fromm provided a nonreductionistic model of motivation by exploring emergent (new) evolutionary properties that characterize the human species. This emphasis on what is evolutionarily new is the greatest strength of the model. However, the strength is associated with a significant weakness. While recognizing specifically new motivational structures, Fromm underestimates the importance of evolutionary and developmental continuity and transformation. The >eviction from paradise< biblical metaphor captures the essence of Fromm's view of the human condition. Fromm thought that a key factor in development was the struggle to overcome a regressive pull to return to the lost security provided by the mother figure or its symbolic equivalents such as blood ties, tribalism, and nationalism. Cortina presents an alternative evolutionary and developmental model that is in keeping with Fromm's emphasis on the importance of evolutionary transformations in humans, but does not accept Fromm's premise that as a species we are uprooted from nature. The evolutionary perspective accounts for the plasticity of human adaptation – that Fromm attributed to a combination of a relatively weak instinctive endowment and the development of the neocortex – as the result of a neotenic process (the retention of juvenile characteristics into adult life). This neotenic interpretation, together with a developmental perspective derived from attachment theory, questions the paradigm of symbiotic unity that informed Fromm's view of development and still remains an influential model of development in many other psychoanalytic schools of thought. Research based on attachment theory shows that under normal conditions security is never >lost< but rather it is found, or more precisely it is constructed (Sroufe 1986). This construction between the infant and its primary caregivers continues over a very protracted period of human development when it gradually becomes internalized, providing a sense of continuity in human development. Under favorable conditions ties with parents are never relinquished but become transformed as new intimate relationships to peers and lovers develop, supplying a new source of emotional security. The chapter concludes with some clinical implications of this >secure base< model of development.
Borderline desire
(1996)
The borderline personality unconsciously seeks emotional turbulence because this complex of affect is the shape of the object of desire. Whether these people were intrinsically disturbed as infants, or, whether the early object world was itself disturbing, they knew the maternal object as disruptive effect. This effect then became the shape of the object, so, in seeking turbulence they are in fact constituting the primary object. As painful and disturbing an event as this is, it is nonetheless desired and finding themselves in states of distress is unconsciously gratifying. This person cultivates >borderline objects< which evoke turbulent frames of mind. Such an object usually has an escalatory potential to it, so that the borderline may turn to ordinary distressing facts of life—environmental pollution, harassment of workers in the work place—and transform these facts into self stimulating objects. They bring about a toxic response which constitutes the object of desire. The borderline personality often seeks moments of misunderstanding with the psychoanalyst paradoxically enough in order to feel closer to the clinician. If he feels that he is bringing about irritation or distress in the analyst, the patient feels that he and the analyst are sharing the primary experience together. By persistently interpreting to the patient the unconscious desire of his character the analyst can effectively deconstruct the analysand's pathological attachment and help the patient to understand a complex dynamic that has always put this person at acute odds with himself, let alone with others.
The importance of nocturnal dreams is discussed along the lines of Lorentzen's arguments. The risk that they are under-evaluated is stressed. Some contradictory aspects of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams are discussed and a tentative attempt is made to integrate them with the thinking of Bion and Meltzer in the sense of creation of meaning. Montague Ullman's technique of working with dreams in groups is also very briefly sketched and discussed in this context. Finally the capacity to dream and dream-space is commented on with the help of Khan and Kant.
Contributions of Erich Fromm
(1996)
Grey makes a claim for countertransference similar to one Millán makes for transference, namely that Fromm's work can be seen as providing a more inclusive view of countertransference. Grey builds his case examining Fromm's views in regard to the unconscious, the motivational structure of character and countertransference. Grey points out that Fromm's view of the unconscious differed in several ways from Freud's. Fromm saw the unconscious as containing primitive and irrational elements, but also as the source of penetrating insights that transcend the strictures of society. Moreover, Grey sees Fromm as a modern thinker. Fromm had little use for Freud's energetic metapsychology. Fromm conceived of the unconscious in terms of processes, avoiding the danger of reification. Grey notes that Fromm explicitly discussed the >filtering< role imposed by language and social norms that limit the range of human experience. Grey notes that Fromm's theoretical views are more consistent with contemporary models of the mind such as that of Lazarus (1991). According to Grey, Lazarus's work (1991) describing the importance of the appraisal function of emotions legitimizes the role of intuition as a valid and important component of the analyst's repertoire in understanding and responding to patients. Grey argues that Fromm's revision of Freud's dualistic drive model also contributed to the analyst's use of self in work with patients by calling attention to the importance of social and constructive motives. Fromm's model of human nature was an important corrective over Freud's view of man as essentially evil. Fromm's motivational theory supports the analyst's intuitive responses as trustworthy guides in the therapeutic process without having to debunk altruistic motives as sublimations or reaction formations. According to Grey, what this all adds up to is that the use of self advocated by Fromm differs markedly from earlier views of countertransference. This is another aspect of Fromm's contribution that has not yet received the recognition it deserves in current efforts to examine the intersubjective nature of the psychoanalytic dialogue (Stolorow et al. 1987) Despite the enormous advantages over the Freudian model, Fromm's ideal of development, the >productive character,< is in Grey's estimate, misleading. Actual studies of productive personalities show, according to Grey, that >the very circumstances that favor one particular productive attribute tend to discourage another.<
Denken altert nicht
(1996)
Der Durchbruch vom Haben zum Sein. Erich Fromms Gesellschaftskritik und die Mystik Meister Eckharts
(1996)
Der Mensch ist kein Ding!
(1996)
Dreams and transference
(1996)
Editorial
(1996)
Editorial
(1996)
Einige Hinweise auf die psychotherapeutische Einstellung und den Interventionsstil von Erich Fromm
(1996)
Einige Hinweise auf die psychotherapeutische Einstellung und den Interventionsstil von Erich Fromm
(1996)
Elöszó
(1996)
Elöszó (Vorwort),
(1996)
Erich Fromm
(1996)
Erich Fromm
(1996)
Rainer Funk offers another perspective on social character and clinical work. His main thesis is that the analysis of social character, understood as the syndrome of common traits shared by a class or group within society, is as important for understanding any given person as is his or her particular history and idiosyncracies. According to Funk, most clinical work starts and often ends with the analysis of what makes a particular individual unique and focuses almost exclusively on a patient's childhood. This approach runs the risk of overlooking assumptions shared by analyst and analysand alike that may be pathogenic or limiting, but are not recognized as such by virtue of their being shared social and cultural premises. Funk goes further by saying that contemporary social character, described by Fromm as the marketing orientation, has a pervasive alienating influence that corrupts efforts to build loving relationships or develop creative talents. This corrosive influence will infect the therapeutic effort unless the analyst is aware of social influences that have molded his or her own character and has a vision of human growth that is not distorted by this influence. Funk distinguishes self-alienation rooted in authoritarian structures or symbiotic dependency from self-alienation of the marketing orientation. Following Fromm's analysis, he believes that the marketing character's pervasiveness is due to its being part of a >socially patterned defect.< Funk puts on center stage the analysis of alienating social character that affects the analyst and patient alike. Any stance that deviates from this position would be suspect if not collusive in Funk's view.
Burston and Olfman show how this perspective led Fromm to analyze how so-cial demands create >socially patterned defects< in people required to adapt to prevailing social conditions. The same concept appeared in Fromm's later work as the >pathology of normalcy.< Speaking as a representative for human aspira-tions over the social demand for conformity, Fromm raised the question, Who is sick? Is the individual who rebels against social pressures but is symptomatic, sick? Is the individual who conforms but shows no symptoms, normal? As radical as these questions may seem, Burston and Oilman demonstrate that in fact they are not new, and can be traced as far back as Greek philosophy. Moreover, they were shared by Freud, who valued a neurotic with a capacity for insight more than a normal person who showed no signs of spiritual upheaval.
Daniel Burston and Sharna Olfman's note that early in his career Fromm had begun to question Freud's historical perspective that assumed that the ad-vancement of society would necessarily create a stronger repression of instinc-tual drives. According to Freud, there were no free rides on the route to pro-gress, and any cultural advancement would leave in its wake a legacy of com-mon unhappiness. Regardless of the merits of this position, Freud's sober out-look had the virtue of challenging the belief that reason would bring gradual and inexorable progress. Fromm also thought that society had a repressive function, but as Burston and Oilman point out, Fromm's approach was qualitative rather than quantitative. Social demands based on economic modes of production and unequal distribution of goods would conflict with human demands for freedom and happiness. The conflict between social demands and human aspirations had to be analyzed for each particular case and could not be generalized into false historical categories as Freud's theory did.
Critics continue to discuss the work of Egon Wolff with respect to his plays written before 1973. However, most have failed to recognize seven of his plays written after the military coup that changed the face of Chilean politics, economy and culture. I have studied Wolff's complete works in order to determine whether the conditions under which he wrote had somehow affected his dramaturgy. In addition, the high international acclaim given to Los invasores (1963) and Flores de papel (1970) indicates that Wolff had begun a theatrical career comparable to that of the greatest playwrights of this century. This fact alone merited further investigation into his theatre after 1973. – My study is a sociohistorical approach integrated with Erich FROMM's humanistic psychoanalysis in order to understand Wolff's cultural production during critical periods in history. Allusions to the Chilean historical moment throughout Wolff's production reveal a concern for the oppressive conditions, yet they do not fall into the brash political criticism increasingly prevalent throughout the Pinochet era. Surprisingly, a comic spirit and technique prevails in Wolff's work of the period. This contrasts sharply with the tragic mode of many of Wolff's first era plays, but serves very well to provide hope for a better future for the Chilean spectator. The hope in Wolff's Secon-era plays is possible only if traditional values of love and humanism are retained by individuals and society alike. Brotherly love and humanism are the unifying themes of Wolff's entire repertoire and reflect Erich FROMM's concerns for modern society.
Briefly discusses current dissatisfaction with Freud's theoretical framework and considers the difficulties in seeking and establishing a new paradigm. Such a new paradigm should allow for the integration of the field of psychotherapy and be coherent with other psychological theories. Based on the work of H. S. Sullivan, A. Adler, K. Horney, and E. FROMM, a new paradigm is proposed that eliminates the false dichotomy of >interpersonal-intrapsychic< through an analysis of the concepts of physical and phenomenal (i.e., experiential and psychological) space. It is suggested that psychoanalysis reveals that human behavior is goal-directed and social and that social and biological approaches to the study of human behavior are not mutually exclusive. A new conceptual framework of psychoanalysis is offered that is based upon the small social group in a unification of the studies of psycho- and sociodynamics. The group schema serves as a cognitive map, a practice ground for social training and problem solving, and a source of substitute rewards. Examples are presented to illustrate how psychoanalytic ideas may be conceptualized in the group model.
This paper gives special emphasis to the widening and modification of the sense of existence in relation to the unconscious processes of identification. In our 'post-modern' society there are some parents who, while taking care of their children, use subtle projective identification against them, so as to produce in them a sort of pathological introjective identification, which denies their Self. Ferenczi's thought, which deals with the sense of 'not-existing' in some children, helps us to go into depth in understanding their difficulties and pathologies.
Marco Bacciagaluppi attempts to place Fromm's clinical approach within the spectrum of current psychoanalytic models of therapy. Based on Goldberg, Hoffman, and Hirsch, among others, Bacciagaluppi distinguishes three therapeutic stances: the observationalinterpretative stance, in which the analyst observes conflict and limits his participation to providing insight; the >participation with< stance of empathic immersion into the patient's experience; and the >participation in< stance, which recognizes the analyst's inevitable involvement in (and likely reenactment of) the patient's problems. Bacciagaluppi notes several discrepancies in Fromm's approach, including the discrepancy between Fromm's advanced theoretical position, which places him in the >participation in< position, and his emphasis on insight, which places him in the observational-interpretative position. A second discrepancy is that between Fromm's emphasis on providing insight and the importance he attributed to providing a new experience for the patient. Bacciagaluppi concentrates primarily on the second discrepancy and illustrates Fromm's approach using a published case he supervised. – In the clinical case, Fromm is empathic and respectful toward the young woman's traumatic history and emphasizes, like Ferenczi and Bowlby, the importance of real-life experience. At the same time, Fromm states that the essence of analytical cure resides in the conflict engendered by the meeting of the rational and irrational parts of the personality. Bacciagaluppi points out that Fromm at times seems to downplay the importance of the analyst, and lists the personality of the analyst as just one of seven other factors that are important in clinical work. In discussing the importance of new experience in therapeutic change, Bacciagaluppi points out that new experience is seldom new, and that we often find the existence of >weak precursors< (Hoffman 1983) that provided in childhood a supportive and positive experience for the patient. Bacciagaluppi points out that we should be grateful for these weak precursors, and need to be modest in our claims to success as healers, as we are often building on the positive contributions of others who preceded us. Bacciagaluppi offers two clinical examples that illustrate the weak precursor concept. The first example exemplifies a case in which the history of a weak precursor was present from the onset of the therapy. In the second example the existence of a positive figure in the patient's life emerged only much later in the therapy.
Marianne Horney Eckardt offers a thoughtful meditation on the issue of normative principles in development and the practice of psychotherapy. She discerns three possible positions. The classical position as articulated by Heinz Hartmann would advise the analyst to stay clear of any moral position and hope for the best. In the position taken by Karen Horney, the issue of ethics lies at the center of neurotic development. The analyst's role, to use a metaphor, is to be a good gardener who will restore healthy development by providing the right conditions for further growth. We should mention in passing, that the belief in a self-righting tendency is central to many contemporary views such as Lichtenberg and colleagues' (1992) and Weiss's (1993). A third position, taken by Fromm and Stephen Jay Gould, claims that nature does not provide us with answers to the problem of living. Quoting Gould (1977), Eckardt believes that the complexity of human existence requires >humanists of every stripe< (p. 146) to provide us with moral guidelines by which we can live. She interprets Fromm as believing that humans are not inherently good or evil, but that life presents us with choices that can incline us in one direction or another. The role of the analyst in this position is much like the old biblical prophet or a Greek chorus. As therapists we can describe the alternatives provided by life choices and can urge patients to consider the possible consequences of different paths, some of them dire, others promising and hopeful, but we cannot tell patients which road to take. Fromm's position was dialectical and incorporated elements of the second and third positions. Fromm thought that the main tendency in humans was toward goodness. The path to love and brotherliness also offered the best >solution< toward happiness. Evil was a second, ever-present potential, a capacity for cruelty and destructiveness that far exceeded anything observable in the animal kingdom. At its best, Fromm's approach to a humanistic ethics was historical. Any discussion of real possibilities – in a Hegelian sense – for good and evil had to be inserted within the context of a specific historical period and a particular life history. Without this contextualization, any discussion of ethics results in, by omission or by commission, simply supporting an ideology. Eckardt's distinctions are valuable and help frame some of the issues of a humanistic ethics. We think her discussion of Fromm's belief in a negative theology also has implications for our position as therapists. Just as we cannot know what God is, we are also unable to predict, nor should we prescribe, formulas that lead to the good life. And just as a negative theology is defined by what God is not, so we can and do know about negative consequences for development when favorable conditions are lacking. Furthermore, we should not hide our values as therapists. A central paradox of human development is that while development is lawful, it is not predictable on an individual basis.
Gruppo e psicosi: esclusione, inclusione, autonomia. Typescript, 5 pp. With accompanying letter.
(1996)