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Das Zeitalter des Narzißmus
(1995)
An important critique has been developing that questions the ways in which psychoanalytic theories have conceptualized gender and sexuality. Contemporary (postmodern) feminist theories and the work of gay and lesbian theorists have challenged the traditional psychoanalytic view of gender as formed primarily through fixed, unitary identifications. This paper reviews the classical concept of the primal scene and the Kleinian concept of the combined parent figure and recontextualizes these ideas within contemporary relational theory. The revised metaphor of an internalized primal scene challenges traditional notions of a unitary gender identity and lends support to the postmodern critique of the notion of a core or unified identity. This paper develops the idea that we need both a notion of gender identity and a notion of gender multiplicity more broadly, we need an emphasis on people both as unified, stable, cohesive subjects and as multiple, fragmented, and different from moment to moment. In line with the postmodern emphasis on deconstructing dichotomies, the paper emphasizes the deconstruction, or rather the psychoanalysis, of such polarized concepts as male-female, masculine – feminine, heterosexual – homosexual, father – mother, genital – pregenital, oedipal – preoedipal, identity – multiplicity, paranoid-schizoid-depressive position, drive theory – relational theory, and even patient – analyst.
Der elterliche Notstand
(1995)
Excerpts from prolonged analytic work with a multiply traumatized young man who deliberated a sex-change operation are presented, highlighting some problematics in the treatment of transsexualism, a gender-identity disturbance that may become significant in recent psychoanalytic and cultural discourse on self and gender. The paper aims both to report some >technical< issues in such an analysis and to throw some light on such themes as identification, domination and submission, sadomasochism and guilt and shame, narcissistic entitlement and empowerment, desire and recognition, gender and difference, and the vertiginously multiple meanings and emotional elaborations of masculinity and femininity. The analytic itinerary is recounted with emphasis on diverse relational approaches that were attempted to fit the delicate balance of the patient's needs, his quasi-delusional transferences, and his capacity to persevere in a mutually >nightmarish,< though possible and feasible psychoanalysis.
Desire and dread in the analyst. Reply to Glen Gabbard's. Commentary on >love in the afternoon<
(1995)
Dialogues and Monologues
(1995)
Die Krise als Chance
(1995)
Die Wiederkehr des Bösen
(1995)
This essay identifies Kohut's major contribution as methodological: that psychoanalytic inquiry entails the sustained empathic immersion in the patient's psychological experience. Kohut's consistent employment of this method enabled him to discover that it was not instinctual drive derivatives but selfobject needs that were central to all psychological relationships. This discovery was the basis for the transformation of analysts’ approach to the >narcissistic< aspects of a wide variety of disorders – a transformation whose theoretical and therapeutic importance rivals the revolutionary approach taken by Freud to the vicissitudes of psychosexuality and its disturbances. The author describes the major areas of progress in self psychology – much of which centers on the growing recognition that the health and vitality of the self depend on complex relational, or intersubjective, selfobject experiences. He indicates how this recognition is changing our perspectives on transference and countertransference and is improving our ability to respond optimally to our patients. He describes how optimal responsiveness constitutes the guiding principle for therapeutic work, and how it may both constitute, and be different from, >being empathic.<
Self psychology is maintaining continuity with Kohut's last work, >How Does Analysis Cure?< and his vision of human nature, as well as exploring a multiplicity of new directions. This paper discusses the expansion of Kohut's contributions in terms of the >figure-ground< dimensions of transference: a selfobject dimension and representational configurations. On the basis of empirical studies of infancy, the paper proposes that both self- and mutual regulation organize the treatment relationship. It illustrates the clinical applicability of the expansion of Kohut's contributions by discussing a case in which countertransference, aggression, and resistance could place an analyst in danger of contributing to a therapeutic stalemate were it not for the contributions of Kohut.
At this time in the evolution of the various psychoanalytic theories, we can make only some general comments regarding the direction that psychoanalytic self psychology may take in the future. We can, with greater certainty, however, predict the enduring importance of two of its basic concepts: 1) the significance of empathy as a mode of observation will endure and 2) the developmental and clinical conception of the selfobject will remain central to self psychology for the foreseeable future. Selfobject experiences have been recognized as crucial in all aspects of mental life: in development, in the clinical situation, and in everyday life throughout the lifespan.
This article locates self psychology within the context of the evolving paradigm for psychoanalysis that the author calls intersubjectivity theory. It is argued that Kohut contributed significantly to the new paradigm but stopped short of fully embracing it. Self psychology and intersubjectivity theory are compared and contrasted, and an intersubjective view is offered of the patient's transference, the analyst's transference, and the system created by their reciprocal interaction.