Semiological Prospects
(1993)
This paper argues that some forms of sadomasochistic fantasy and enactments can represent a developmental and therapeutic advance for some patients. Playful fantasies of dominance and submission, when enacted, function to reassure the patient that the other can survive the full expression and power of his or her sexual desire. Sadomasochistic scenarios can mitigate guilt and worry and free the patient for an experience of sexual ruthlessness. The apparent differences in the manifest roles of the man and woman in this situation are belied in a paradoxical way by underlying commonalities. A woman can use her consensually scripted domination as a reassurance that the man can withstand the full force of her excitement, and the man can experience his partner's excitement in submission as a condition of safety for the consolidation of his phallic strength. Two clinical examples illustrate these paradoxes and the affirmative dimension of certain kinds of sadomasochistic play. The suggestion is made that blanket critiques of sadomasochism as either perversion or misogyny are misguided and potentially repressive.
Presents a case study of a 30-yr-old man treated for narcissistic personality disorder and attempts to show how further contributions to an alternative approach to psychoanalysis can come from E. FROMM. FROMMian themes are all present in the case in varying degrees. It is suggested that the 2 main features of this case (narcissism and homosexuality) were the outcome of a pathological symbiosis with both parents. Eight themes, drawn both from FROMM's published works and from his unpublished writings, are stressed, including benign vs malignant aggression, having vs being, homosexual and incestuous symbiosis, and secret family narcissism.
>Dati empirici sull'ontogenesi del carattere sociale tedesco e confronti transculturali<: Vengono descritte la teoria dell'attaccamento, così come è stata sviluppata da Bowlby, e la ricerca empirica che ne è derivata, a cominciare dalla Strange Situation della Ainsworth e dalle osservazioni in casa ad essa correlate. Vengono pure riferiti gli studi sulla trasmissione transgenerazionale, sui modelli di lavoro interni e gli studi longitudinali. L'argomento principale del lavoro è costituito dagli studi transculturali condotti in Germania, Israele e Giappone. Nella Germania settentrionale, in confronto agli Stati Uniti, venne trovata una frequenza maggiore di comportamenti evitanti nei bambini. Questo dato è stato correlato con la richiesta culturale di una prematura fiducia in sé. Si suggerisce che nei bambini evitanti della Germania settentrionale noi vediamo l'ontogenesi precoce del carattere autoritario.
Attachment theory, as developed by Bowlby, and empirical research derived from it, beginning with Ainsworth's >Strange Situation< and the correlated home observations, are described. The studies of the transgenerational transmission of patterns and of the internal working models of the relationship, as well as longitudinal studies, are reported. The main focus of the paper is on cross-cultural studies, carried out in Germany, Israel and Japan. In North Germany, as compared to the U. S., there was a higher frequency of avoidant behavior in babies. This finding has been linked with the cultural demand for premature self-reliance. It is suggested that in the avoidant North German children we see the early ontogeny of the authoritarian character.
Attachment theory, as developed by Bowlby, and empirical research derived from it, beginning with Ainsworth's >Strange Situation< and the correlated home observations, are described. The studies of the transgenerational transmission of patterns and of the internal working models of the relationship, as well as longitudinal studies, are reported. The main focus of the paper is on cross-cultural studies, carried out in Germany, Israel and Japan. In North Germany, as compared to the U. S., there was a higher frequency of avoidant behavior in babies. This finding has been linked with the cultural demand for premature self-reliance. It is suggested that in the avoidant North German children we see the early ontogeny of the authoritarian character.
Although Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswick, Daniel J. Levinson, and R. Nevitt Stanford promised to later review the theoretical contributions that guided their work when they published The Authoritarian Personality in 1950, this was never done. Nor have any of the 1,200+ subsequent studies on authoritarianism focused explicitly on the theoretical ideas that resulted in the nine subsyndromes introduced in the original study: conventionalism, authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, antiintraception, superstition and stereotype, power and toughness, destructiveness and cynicism, projectivity, and concern with sex. Assessed here, therefore, are the theoretical and methodological contributions that were eventually incorporated into the classical conception of authoritarianism, particularly those of Erich FROMM, who had been working on a similar concept since the late 1920s.
The Afrocentric Idea
(1993)
The process of healing in psychoanalysis is considered from a holistic point of view instead of the usual scientific and medical models. The revolution in thinking represented by the sciences of complexity is discussed as a basis for a holistic concept of healing. An example is given of clinical change achieved by non-psychoanalytic means in order to suggest new ways of thinking about how healing occurs in psychotherapy.
Freud and Jung
(1993)
The New Mestiza
(1993)
This paper considers, from a psychoanalytic point of view, work with urban poor patients. A previous attempt, from an ego psychological perspective, to adapt psychoanalytic theory and technique for work with such patients is reviewed. An attempt is then made to elaborate an object relations perspective, based largely on the work of Fairbairn. The two approaches are compared and contrasted, especially with respect to common problems that arise in work with this group of people, such as missed appointments, crises, and requests for >concrete< help. Finally, there is a review of how the structure and policies of the public clinics in which most poor patients are seen impact on analytically oriented work.
Why Theory?
(1993)
La esperienza emozionale correttiva. [http://www.psychomedia.it/pm/modther/probpsiter/alexan-1.htm]
(1993)
How People Get Better
(1993)