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- 2022 (85) (remove)
The authors examine the influence that psychoanalysts’ economic situation has on the current state of psychoanalysis, particularly focusing on the situation in Germany and employing a perspective afforded by Marxian commodity analysis. Their analysis brings them to conclude that, in psychoanalysis, the suspension of truth value, the tolerance shown towards contradictory concepts, the lack of conceptual criticism, and the exclusion of sociocritical issues seem to be effects of psychoanalysts’ interest in realizing the exchange value of their psychoanalytic treatment and their accompanying lesser interest towards its use value.
Analytic writers have studied existential anxiety or annihilation anxiety, emanating from traumatic disruptions to people’s sense of going-on-being, reminders of their finitude, and facing a chaotic reality, and suggested that they can endure this anxiety by being with and living through it together with another person. The literature suggests that to be with patients who experience such anxiety, therapists need to indulge >narcissistically< in their own memories and fantasies of similar experiences, and, in parallel to the patients, enter transient regressive states. Sometimes, however, therapists are faced with a chaotic analytic reality that arouses existential anxiety in themselves, and seek to share it with their supervisors who, by experiencing parallel regressive states, can identify with their supervisees and grasp their experiences. Supervisors who consistently fail to be with their supervisees at such moments and persist in offering them new constructions of therapeutic materials might strengthen the supervisees’ defensive operations and disrupt their development as therapists.
Children construct their inner worlds by internalizing real and imagined aspects of their parental figures and their families as whole objects with their relational configurations. These familial configurations are often evoked in the context of communities that, similarly to families, struggle to preserve and advance their unity and collective values, interests, and symbols. Supervisees acknowledge their internalized familial relational configurations when they explore their countertransferences and their transferential responses to the analytic community. Understanding these transferences in supervision may facilitate the process of assimilating the analytic community into supervisees’ professional selves. Moreover, the supervisors represent and mediate both the community’s balanced and flexible relational therapeutic positions and its complexities. These positions might provide the supervisees with new group-object experiences and change their defensively organized rigid familial relational configurations, thereby further integrating the supervisees’ professional selves as well as strengthening the analytic community.
In the process of the continuous development of capitalism, the ecological crisis and a series of environmental problems have been caused by the incorrect understanding of the relationship between man and nature. In this context, William Leiss, who has long been concerned about ecological issues, criticized the capitalist society on the basis of inheriting and developing Marxism’s theory of need and Herbert Marcuse’s theory of >True or false need<, with a new perspective to explain the needs of the capitalist system of human needs, the formation of their own ideological characteristics of the needs of the theory. Specifically, William Leiss is mainly concerned with the complexity of human desires, which is an important reason for the formation of the capitalist high consumption society, and the need to be oriented toward the commodity world, which is the root cause of the formation of the capitalist high consumption society, and the thought of human conquering nature is the important foundation of the formation of the capitalist high-consumption society. On this basis, Leiss pays attention to the quality of commodities, pays attention to the multi-dimension and relevance of human needs, and understands the close relationship between human needs and natural environment, familiar with the estimated characteristics of commodities in four aspects of the future human needs to express and meet the concept, and the future human needs to express and meet the way to explore, namely the following four aspects, advocating a general orientation of human needs towards a non-single field of goods, and an open minded self-interest to replace anthropocentrism ideology in an easily viable society, it is suggested that natural entities have the same legal rights as human beings. William Leiss’s theory of needs, while providing a new perspective on the mode of production of capitalism, enriches ecological Marxism and provides a useful reference for the establishment of a correct concept of consumption, but there is also a certain degree of misunderstanding of Marxism’s concept of goods, the lack of a certain global vision, its proposed solution is utopian. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
This article aims to be an intervention into the recent discussions on the importance anxiety and ontological security in the study of International Relations (IR) (Kinvall and Mitzen, 2020; Hom and Steele, 2020; Rumelili, 2020). The paper poses an alternative critical starting point based on the Marxist concept of alienation. Marx’s work on alienation continued in historical materialist traditions such as in Lukács’ (1971) analysis reification has a lot to offer to the discussions on emotions and anxiety and the development of a politically relevant critical theory of IR. My purpose is to draw attention to the potential of Marxist social theory and particularly the concept of alienation in contributing to the development of an emancipatory critical IR theory. Most of the recent discussions on anxiety remain at an abstract level. The recent existential accounts of anxiety and ontological insecurity have subjectivist and idealist conceptions failing to account for the structures of power and domination in capitalist society. However, Marx’s concept of alienation deals with the consequences of power and domination in a more historically specific way (Sayers 2011, 1) providing the basis for a more meaningful social critique oriented to human emancipation.
Nowadays, the society is in the rapid development stage of scientific and technological innovation. However, to some extent, the traditional extensive concept of development has led to increasingly tense conflicts, resulting in increasingly serious conflicts between man and nature, man and man, man and society, and man and himself, seriously affecting the sound development of human society. In China, people-oriented is the starting point and the driving force of social development. >People-centered< is an important principle for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. In this regard, the importance of human beings is self-evident. In the field of foreign humanistic thought, Fromm is one of the most representative scholars. This thesis examines Fromm’s anthropological thought from three aspects: the formation, logical composition, and evaluation of his anthropological thought. The formation of Fromm’s humanistic thought is inseparable from three aspects: personal experience, social background, and its theoretical origin. In the logical composition of Fromm’s humanistic thought, human nature is the core element of Fromm’s humanistic thought. He carried out research and analysis on human nature from four aspects. First, the dualistic definition of human nature. Specifically discussed from the following angles: one was based on the original living conditions, insurmountable survival ambiguities and non-inevitable history to explain the contradiction of human nature; the other was to analyze the relationship between human nature and human nature and the relationship between human nature and survival needs to interpret human consciousness. Secondly, Fromm regarded the concept of social character as the intermediary link between individuals and society. Thirdly, Fromm analyzed the concept of alienation from the perspective of psychology and sociology, and exposed the alienation of people in modern Western society in the unconscious level and the reality level through criticizing the alienation of capitalism. Finally, Fromm put forward a set of strategies for solving alienation problems based on psychological revolution and social revolution, which provides a relatively complete solution strategy for the problem of social change. Specifically, it takes >moral renewal< as a prerequisite, and at the same time takes into account the reform work in the political, economic and cultural fields, so as to create a better environment for the all-round development of individuals. Fromm’s anthropological thought has the characteristics of value presupposition and utopia. From the standpoint of Marxism, although Fromm’s humanistic thought has certain limitations, the humanistic criticism of his humanistic thought on society has promoted the happiness and development of human beings, which has certain practical significance. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
More simply human than otherwise: interpersonal psychoanalysis and the field of the >negro problem<
(2022)
My parents’ death struggle, my clinical work with dying patients, the euthanasia of Freud, and a fear of dementia form the background to my reflections on dying patients, hospices, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. The change in public opinion has resulted in a displacement from Nazi crimes to the present focus on the right to self-determination. Consequently, a law allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia has been adopted in several locations, such as Oregon in the USA, the Benelux countries, Switzerland, and Canada. The fear of suffering, hopelessness, and inability are strong arguments to allow euthanasia and aided suicide. A compelling case against it is its negative social consequences, the infringement into the private sphere when the sick person and their family must decide if they are willing to accept assisted suicide or euthanasia. Although the >right to death< provides freedom to some, for others it is a forced choice that interferes with the dying process. I conclude by highlighting the palliative model, wherein death is perceived as a part of an individual’s life and as a normal process, although this task is hard for the family to contain, especially when the dying person is in pain and agony. Dying is not merely an individual process. It affects the whole family as well as the future generations’ views on reciprocity and responsibility.
The reunification of Germany took place in 1990. As an analyst brought up in the former West Germany, but practicing in Berlin, I have observed over and over again that patients who come from what used to be East Germany (German Democratic Republic) – even those born after 1990 – have a strong need to distinguish between East Germans and West Germans. In their minds, Germany seems still to be a divided country. A split identity appears to have been internalized, producing >West German< and >East German< racists who despise, in the >other< kind of German, a devalued aspect of what being German means. I have tried for many years to understand the hidden meanings of this defensive maneuver for the analytic couple, and beyond this for the relation between the East and West German societies. Here I discuss these unresolved shadows in German identity. Analyses in Germany may be dominated by the splits they provoke, which interfere with patients’ capacities to think. Patients may relate instead to a >German< object that is impersonal, nonempathic, and rejects the idea of an independent internal world. The defensive use of this object in the transference has to be continually worked through in the analysis.
The philosophical foundations of interpersonal psychoanalysis: Albert Dunham Jr. and racial politics
(2022)
After publishing a psychoanalytic inquiry on Enescu’s and Stravinsky’s Oedipal operas, it seemed worth offering comments about other artistic depictions based on Oedipus’ myth. Josep Soler’s and Xiao-song’s versions were studied in relation to their orientalist sources. Soler’s opera shed further light on Oedipus’ paranoid crisis in his duet with the blind seer. Seneca, Soler’s main inspiration, also influenced Méreaux’s Oedipal opera, which portrays the phantom of Laius requiring vengeance for his murder, a situation similar to the one Freud and Jones commented on in their analysis of Hamlet. Another ghost was found in Pierre Bartholomée’s OEdipe sur la route, which depicts a return of Oedipus’ own complex and its psychopathological comorbidities even after he chastised himself. Psychopathological symptoms were also observed in Sacchini’s version, probably the most famous of all Oedipal operas in its century. Furthermore, the focus now is not only on Oedipal operas, but also on a version of the Jocasta debate. Also attended to in this article are other operas and artistic representations that do not deal directly with the Oedipus myth. A list of 30 Oedipal operas with musical examples offers a fruitful space for debates on psychopathological issues related to the most important complex in psychoanalysis.
Obedience
(2022)
This is a phenomenological description of existential obedience, which draws out a contrast between it and ressentiment and existential envy, and compares it with pedagogical obedience. The discussion is developed with reference especially to the work of Erich Fromm, Emerson, and Nietzsche. Eds.: This paper forms part of a special issue titled >Beyond Virtue and Vice: Education for a Darker Age<, in which the editors invited authors to engage in exercises of >transvaluation<. Certain apparently settled educational concepts (from agency and fulfilment to alienation and ignorance) can be reinterpreted and transvaluated (in a Nietzschean vein) such that virtues become vices, and vices, virtues. The editors encouraged authors to employ polemics and some occasional exaggeration to reimagine educational values that are all too readily accepted within contemporary educational discourses.
The author presents a model of clinical intervention based on patients’ mentalization, or mind reading, that is, the function of the mind to understand the mind. The action of mind reading means a type of thought, mostly not conscious, implicit, often not even encoded in words, that expresses the meaning >I think that you think that I think.< Thoughts about the analyst’s states of mind crowd the minds of patients, taking shape in these questions: >What do you think I have in mind?< and so >How do you plan to act towards me?< If the analyst does not capture and does not disambiguate the doubts, the patient’s perplexity and insecurity can intensify and produce emotions of anxiety, fear, fright, but also anger towards a silent interlocutor. Conversely, the analyst who mentalizes the state of mind of the patient and verbalizes it heteroregulates the patient’s fears and anxiety level. Mentalization and affect regulation are also related to the analyst’s recognition of the patient’s metacognition process. At the conclusion of the theoretical section, a clinical sketch shows examples, and highlights in therapeutic work the abovementioned theoretical issues.
This chapter presents several different conceptualizations of the ambivalence which, it argues, is a central feature of the psyche of the modern individual. It is produced by two basic but potentially contradictory needs – for the assertion of individuality, and for membership of a collectivity. The understanding of this ambivalence is an important contribution of psychoanalysis to psychosocial theory. It bridges between sociohistorical and clinical perspectives and throws light on many aspects of the contemporary world.– The starting point is Fromm’s >Fear of Freedom< (1942). Fromm describes the depth of fearful aloneness and vulnerability felt by the modern individual who has emerged from the very limited individuation of pre-modern societies. This leads to the dangers of a regressive escape from that fear, and into identification with an idealized collective, which is the basis of popular support for authoritarianism.– This remains a highly relevant analysis, though another, complementary dynamic must now also be considered. This involves a fear of the collective, a libertarian denial of the pains of separation, and an idealization of the unfettered individual. A deficit of confidence in the core, individuated self produces vulnerability to both of these anxieties, trapping us in an ambivalence between freedom and belonging, unable to feel fully secure with either.– Developments in post-Freudian theory have offered clinically-based elaborations and variations on this idea of a basic ambivalence. Here the focus is on Guntrip’s account of the schizoid dilemma, and on descriptions of a >core complex< (Glasser) involving agoraphobic and claustrophobic impulses and oscillations between them. These different formulations converge in their picture of a self unable to live either with or without human relationships.– A number of key topics in politics today are then considered in the light of this analysis: attitudes toward the state, national identity and nationalism, terrorism, and populism. In each area, the expression and interplay of these complementary anxieties and defences against them are seen to contribute to the present difficulties of democracy.