The pleasure of thought during the session is an intellectual feeling, that can take several forms at different moments during the analyst's thought process. The following should be distinguished: the disruption introduced by interpretative interference, which by underlining an unconscious element, upsets the conscious logical flow of the analysand's speech; finding the key-word or the overdetermined image which springs to the mind in the same way as a poet finds a rhyme; the resurgence of a memory, once evoked and subsequently forgotten again by the analysand, which imposes itself with quasi hallucinatory sharpness in the analyst's representative space; the experience of co-thought, either on one particular occasion related to a specific representation, or as a complement, accompanying the analysand's associative process.
Freud published his >On Narcissism: An Introduction<' in 1914. The writing has many levels, including, among other things, Freud's criticism of his former colleagues, Adler and Jung. Psychoanalysts received the essay with reservations. Ernest Jones, among others, expressed his concerns in his history of psychoanalysis. The aim of this study is to place Heinz Kohut's ideas about narcissism into the context of the history of ideas. Especially, the paper explores, at a theoretical level, the status of the castration complex both in self psychology and Freud's essay as well as seeks reasons why the discussion on narcissism should be continued.
Peuchet: vom Selbstmord,
(1999)
Peuchet on Suicide,
(1999)
Laudatio auf die Preisträger
(1999)
Pathogenic parent-infant relationship patterns endanger developmental processes of children. Psychoanalysis with parents and their infants helps to diminish transgenerational repetition of maladaptive experiences of relationships. The aim of this extensive work is to transform dysfunctional relationship patterns and to change their self- and object-representations. The author gives an account of her experiences working in a counselling centre, where parents may come with their >problem babies<, infants with sleep and thriving disturbances or >ry babies<, and demonstrates the positive effects of a reconstructive and at the same time prospective work.
Nowadays Freud bashing is not only à la mode, in certain circles it has become de rigueur. Once a name of respect, Freud has become a name of ridicule. But like any scientific method, body of knowledge, and therapeutic procedure, psychoanalysis should be subjected to critical scrutiny. The recent crop of hostile Freud critics may have filled a vacuum left for decades by a psychoanalytic establishment which, like the Church of yesteryear, shunned all forms of criticism intramural and extramural. A central guiding idea of this essay is the distinction between the psychoanalytic method and psychoanalytic doctrines, hypotheses, and theories. This distinction has been invariably confused by both Freud's adherents and Freud's attackers. Moreover, arguments ad rem have been conflated with arguments ad hominem. A socially responsible criticism must seek to be constructive and not merely destructive. It is the latter course that was taken by the various hostile critics that came to be labeled as Freud bashers. The time has come to take a stand against the more egregious attacks on Freud and the psychoanalytic method.
The following report tries to compile the results of several research projects of the main author and his co-workers dealing with the exchange of affect within different types of relationships. Different conceptualizations of transference and countertransference as specific forms of creating relationships are described and the fundamental differences between successful psychotherapeutic relationships and empathetic every day relationships are outlined. Our investigations make it highly probable that transference is a very ubiquitous phenomena to be found in nearly every relationship as specific forms of affective scripts. The specificity of these scripts follows the disturbance with quantity and quality of the shown affect being the main differential marker. Within the severe disturbances we find reductions of affect with one remaining negative ?lead-affect?, with neurotic patients an excess of conflicts affects. Within the group of severe disturbances affect is attached to the self or to the relationship within neuroses and healthy subject to the objects the dyad talks about. The main difference between successful psychotherapeutic and every day relationships can be characterized by the fact that the therapist does not interactively react to the unconscious affective relationship offers, the patient makes, but develops instead those affects the patient is unable to generate, despite they would be urgently necessary from the meaning structure of the situation.
The development of the concept of transference led to an early differentiation into varying methods and objects of transference analysis, referred to in this paper as ?work on transference? and ?work in transference?. Work on transference applies to the objectifiable aspect of transference as expressed in the stereotyped, recurrent behaviour of the patient outside as well as within the analytical setting, in the present and the past. Work in transference accepts the patient's current conception of the relationship, taking it further as a conflictfilled and sometimes stressful dialogue. Work on transference often includes genetical reconstructions and makes it possible for the patient to gain rational insights into the constant features of his experience and behaviour. Its main benefit takes the form of enhanced perception. Work in transference is aimed at change: it allows the patient to work through the internalized conflicts in relationships during discussion with the analyst, and, in his way to attain new conceptions for action and new object representations.
The theory of motivation proposed in this paper unites elements of psychoanalytic object relations theory, ego psychology and the theory of the drives. It is compatible with the theory of motivation proposed by Bischof. The wish for familiarity and the wish to relate to hitherto unknown objects, are both called basic relational wishes. The wishes for fusion, for relating to a person exactly like oneself, for being unconditionally accepted, the wish to be nurtured and to nurture some other person, the wish for being controlled or to control somebody else and for being admired because of gender characteristics, are called central relational wishes. These wishes correspond to the various stages of psychosexual development. They are characterised by the properties of the objects one wishes to relate to and by specific modes of relating. The influence of a person's being restricted to dyadic or multi-personal modes of relating to the intensity of central wishes is taken into account, as well as the influence of central relational wishes on the value system of a person.
Rationaalisen demokratian paluu? Jürgen Habermas Frankfurtin koulun ohjelman demokratisoijana
(1999)
The paper discusses Frieda Fromm-Reichmann's theoretical contributions on the psychotherapy of psychoses and refers it to other authors' views. Today widely accepted, she stressed transference and countertransference as es-sential issues in the treatment of severely disturbed patients. She disagreed with authors like Federn who interpreted the concept of regression in a way that to treat schizophrenics means to treat children of different ages. Different from Federn, she advocated interpretations also of the positive transference to show the patient where he stands in life. Later on, Fromm-Reichmann opposed John Rosen and his direct analysis interpreting first the contents of the psychotic's speech. She stressed the form of the interaction and of the everyday behaviour where she saw where the patient stands in the world. The discussion shows that Fromm-Reichmann developed her theories and practice in cooperation and discussion with other psychoanalysts working with psychotic patients.
Reply to Ann‑Louise Silver
(1999)
A essência psíquica do homem resulta de dicotomias existenciais que nascem da debilidade biológica da espécie e que naturalmente impulsionam os indivíduos a desenvolverem suas potencialidades éticas intrínsecas. Porém, uma vez na sociedade capitalista alienadora, o homem perde o espontâneo amor à vida e transforma-se alternativamente em terrível amor à morte.
Psychoanalysis is the product of a highly original and independent thinker from an historically marginalized minority with a perspective dedicated to plumbing the depths of our self-deceptions. Although the European anti-Semitism faced by Sigmund Freud was particularly relevant to his personal and professional identities, he was not unmindful of conflictual >race, creed and color< paradigms peculiar to the >New World<. Fragments from the analyses of two American psychiatrists (whose formative years were centered in the post-Civil War South) reveal the confluence of such crosscurrents in their autobiographical accounts of his inter- relationships with each of them.
There are many reasons why psychotherapy supervisees are prone to narcissistic vulnerability, in which feelings of self-esteem are challenged. In the supervisory process, the supervisee reveals his clinical ability, basic intuition and personal feelings, creating a powerful experience of self-exposure. Ego ideals towards which he aspires, compound this basic vulnerability. These ideals are challenged by the dual nature of mastery involved in the task of becoming a psychoanalyst. As a therapist, the supervisee is required to perform as something of an authority – if he is not yet an expert, he must appear to know a good deal more than the patient who is seeking his help, displaying some degree of mastery. As a student, he is clearly less knowledgeable than his supervisor, and, in the supervisory relationship, he displays his mastery in a very different way. There he is, at once, the >knowing< therapist and the >unknowing< supervisee. This paper examines the role of ego ideals and self-exposure in the experience of the supervisee, and explores special problems that occur with supervisees who present with narcissistic character defenses. Case vignettes are used to illustrate these ideas and implications for supervisory interventions are explored.
Anmerkungen des Herausgebers zu Band XI und zu Band XII der Erich Fromm Gesamtausgabe in 12 Bänden
(1999)
This paper attempts to reassess Elizabeth Severn's place in the history of psychoanalysis. It does so by focusing on her three out of print books, which until now have been overlooked in discussions of the patient Ferenczi called ?RN? in the Clinical Diary. Her first two books, written in 1913 and 1917, provide the reader with valuable glimpses into what was the pre-analytic mind and person of Elizabeth Severn before she began what would be a ground breaking eight year analysis with Ferenczi. A key to understanding Elizabeth Severn, her writings, as well as many of our traumatized patients lies in a what Ferenczi and Severn called ?Orpha?. The paper suggests that an appreciation of this obscure phenomenon is critical in the treatment of trauma. After investigating her first two books in light of Orpha, the paper will compare and contrast them with her last book, The Discovery of Self, written toward the end of her analysis, and published shortly after Ferenczi's death in 1933. The tone, texture and content of this third book is strikingly different from her first two books, suggesting a depth of healing in Severn not previously reported in the literature.
Since Freud's Dream Interpretation and his additional writings on the analysis of dreams, the technique of handling a dream report within the analytic session has remained nearly unchanged. It is characterised by dream-centred associations and their interpretation in regard to dream content and to transference. This approach constitutes an alien element within contemporary interactional psychoanalytic technique and tends to provoke resistances in the analytic dialogue. This article stresses the function of dream reporting during the session with respect to the interactional process. It is concluded that sufficient attention should be given to interactional analysis of dream reporting in accordance with the questions: Why does the patient at this point of the process tell a dream, and why does he tell this very dream instead of another?
Le Coq-Héron
(1999)
La proyección, desde referentes marxistas y humanistas, de los principales conceptos del psicoanálisis aplicados al ámbito de la acción de la persona y de la situación social constituye una línea de pensamiento e investigación fructífera para la solución de los problemas de la sociedad contemporánea. La importancia metodológica de categorías holísticas como la de Proyecto de Vida, construída y aplicada en diversas investigaciones por el autor podrían aportar, desde los referentes teóricos que se expresan, a la complejidad del campo de conocimiento y tranformación humana de la sociedad.
A Case of Primary Vaginismus
(1999)
Sometimes human sexuality manifests itself in forms that must be interpreted as symptoms of a severely disturbed psychological situation. The author presents a case in which primary vaginismus – a long known symptom in the gynaecological field and difficult to approach both from a gynaecological and a psychological point of view – is the manifestation of a personality with psychotic elements.
Sándor Ferenczi's first paper (1908) on the subject of premature ejaculation – in its stress on the repercussions of the symptom itself in the other (in this case, the woman), rather than its unconscious significance or the patient's pathology – is an early signal of the ethical directions his future clinical work would take. Ferenczi – displaying a decidedly relational, not merely intrapsychic, orientation – underlines the peculiar idiosyncrasies of each partner in the couple and also the fact that any relationship worthy of the name must take place in conditions of mutual pleasure and advantage. In particular, Ferenczi strikes a blow for the >legitimate< needs of the weaker partner to whom the stronger must allow and offer mental space and voice by virtue of his knowledge and power. For the above reasons this first paper is a >calling card< which announces Ferenczi's later reflections on the specific affective qualities that may render the psychoanalytic environment non-traumatic, as well as his criticism of the narcissistic aspects of the analyst (one of the most important motives for subtle and hidden trauma), who views the work of interpretation as the product of a single mind (in my terms: a kind of colonisation and expropriation of the other) rather than as fruit of an encounter that would take into account both the unique characteristics of the partner as well as the rhythms appropriate to such a relationship.
Satyagraha nach Gandhi
(1999)
Vom Gewaltkult zur Gütekraft
(1999)
Fromm, Erich Pinchas
(1999)
Gütekraft: Kraft der Liebe
(1999)
The Dream Unbound
(1999)
Since the publication of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, the psychoanalyst has been concerned with how to bring the unconscious mind closer to consciousness. This paper reflects the shift in understanding the use of dreams for the psychoanalytic exploration of the vicissitudes of the self and a shift away from the notion of wish fulfillment as a core motivational force in wish production. Another important change in psychoanalytic theory is the relevance of the analyst's subjective experience of the patient, which enhances the understanding of the therapeutic process. From the acknowledgment of the importance of a countertransference dream, the analyst has greater access to thoughts, feelings, and images which enable the analyst to work through the resistances to change, which occur in the consulting room. Two clinical vignettes depict the use of self-state dreams which reveal the patient's self-experience and a countertransference dream which gives greater access to the analyst's inner world and thus wards off a potential dismantling of the psychotherapeutic relationship.