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Erich Fromm is highly regarded in the Chinese academic field. This preliminary paper reports the major findings of an extensive data gathering project in China that gives us a basic outline of the trends in the reception of Fromm. We conducted several literature searches between June 2012 and May 2013 using different online databases, mostly China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database KNS (CNKI). This paper offers a categorization of the more than 800 contributions of Chinese authors, discusses the most important results, compares Fromm's very extensive reception in China to other countries and makes suggestions for future projects. While we initially expected Fromm to be invoked for criticism of Western capitalism, his views on how to cope with >the predicaments of modern man< are mostly used to underpin critical comments on mismanagement in China itself. In this way Fromm is used as a source of inspiration and creativity in theoretical matters as well as in practical questions, and also to comment on the spiritual and emotional development of the individual in modern China. There are, furthermore, extensive Chinese debates on Fromm’s concepts of >social character<, >the nature of man<, >escape from freedom<, >alienation<, >Marxism as humanism< and >the art of love< and there is an interesting reception of Fromm's concepts of psychoanalysis and social psychology in literature and art studies. Fromm’s humanistic and humanistic-ethical contributions are particularly appreciated with reference to their importance for theory and practice – even though there is a fair amount of criticism of Fromm in China as well.
The author investigates conversion, the process by which psychic contents are transformed into bodily symptoms. The author concludes that this process cannot be explained by libido theory or by assuming the existence of a psychic energy. He argues that although Freud was convinced that >the leap from a mental process to a somatic innervation … can never be fully comprehensible to us,< this process is, nonetheless, comprehensible in terms of Freud's own conceptualisation. To understand this process, one must take the characteristics of the primary process to which the >replacement of external by psychical reality< belongs as radical as his thesis of a hallucinatory wish fulfilment. This thesis includes not only the hallucinatory satisfaction of instinctual wishes, but also the hallucinatory satisfaction of the desire to avoid unpleasure, which is understood as a process by which the internal conditions of this affect are displaced from the presentational world into perceptions via conversion.
The Evolving Nature of Psychoanalytic Supervision. From Pedagogical to Andragogical Perspective
(2015)
In what primary ways has psychoanalytic supervision evolved over the course of its 100-year plus history? In this paper, I address that question by: (1) sketching out some of the historical differences that have been identified as characterizing the patient-centered, supervisee-centered, and relational-centered supervision perspectives; (2) placing those three perspectives within an adult education framework; and (3) considering their pedagogical (youth-focused) versus andragogical (adult-focused) nature. Based on this examination, I propose the following. Due to the infusion of interpersonal/intersubjective views into the body psychoanalytic, (1) the >maturing< of vision in psychoanalytic supervision (i.e., the movement from a youth-focused to an adult-focused approach to supervision) was made possible; (2) a shift from a supervisory >one-person model times two< to a triadic conceptualization was actuated; (3) traditional perspective on power and authority in supervision was upended; and (4) a more egalitarian, empowering, co-participative approach to supervision emerged and now endures. Attending to the six core principles of adult learning is presented as one primary way in which that “maturing” of vision is most evident in the contemporary practice of psychoanalytic supervision.
Extensive case material is used to show how some adult patients who have been diagnosed with and medicated for attention-deficit disorder (ADD) may be actually suffering from underlying unconscious object relational conflicts that interfere with their ego-functioning, creating an inhibition of basic concentration, focus, expression, and learning. Early childhood experiences of trauma and neglect can create destructive patterns of projective identification based paranoia, guilt, and intense anxiety. The author proposes that these patients have to sacrifice their own identity, psychological organization, and ability to learn or teach in order to keep the peace with others. In order to avoid conflict, difference, and uncertainty, these patients do whatever they can to placate, please, and not disturb the object. However, they often end up extremely resentful, oppositional, and passive-aggressive in reaction. The overwhelming anxiety these patients experience in relationship to the object and to their own internalized demanding critic blocks their ability to learn and grow. In addition, new knowledge, mastery, and creativity are seen as dangerous, forced upon them, or bringing unsafe attention to them. So, in defense, they adapt an inert, scattered, or formless way of living to keep under the radar. This paper advocates the psychoanalytic treatment of such internal conflicts over the popular diagnosis of ADD. Difficulties of learning, attention, concentration, and organization can be better understood and treated as a set of core psychological issues open to gradual working through and healing rather than neurological defects that can only be controlled or managed with strong medication and behavioral exercises.
Children are particularly vulnerable to structured inequalities in society. Building on the work of Erich Fromm (1900–1980), this article contends that modern (post)industrial capitalism corrupts the human capacity to operate in the ‘being mode’—that is, in altruistic and compassionate ways. Rather, within the individualistic logic of the ‘having’ mode of existence there are morally empty spaces where children become objectified, separated from caring communities, dominated and measured. The second part of this article will discuss these insights in relation to the significant impact of neoliberal regimes on children’s social and physical wellbeing. In particular, it is argued that from the mid-1980s in New Zealand, the restructuring of the welfare state in line with neoliberal ideology has increased the vulnerability of young children to poverty and related issues. The narrow conception of poverty that is integral to the ‘having’ mode of existence merely serves to justify the ruling ideological neoliberal consensus. It is argued that any genuine attempt at human progress and the elimination of poverty needs to operate outside of this logic.
This paper will explore ideologies of nature including the ‘Garden of Eden’ and >wildernesses<. It locates these ideologies as morphing to accommodate the later trajectory of the Enlightenment Project and its endorsement of modern Western scientific and technological principles. Beginning with the premise that nature is unknowable, this paper offers a critique of dominant Western cultural ideologies that function to domesticate and order nature. This goes hand in hand with ideologies and practices of domination and control in the name of scientific, technological and capitalist neo-liberal economic >development<. The assumption that the boundary between nature and humans is crossable through scientific and technological knowledge is one that can be explored and challenged by examining how such knowledge is from the outset ideologically constructed. This paper will look at the concept of alienation from nature (as expressed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in >Emile< and Karl Marx) to explore how modern schooling and the capitalist economy shape human-nature relations.
>The Rocking-Horse Winner< is one of D. H. Lawrence’s greatest short stories. Taking Hester, the mother’s image as an example, Lawrence described the alienated human nature in industrial civilization and expressed his discontentment and criticism. Focusing on the alienation of the mother’s image from the perspective of Erich Fromm’s alienation theory, this paper analyzed the manifestation of the mother’s alienation and concluded it is the expanded crazy pursuit of money that destroys the beautiful, pure nature of human and finally alienates human nature.
This chapter elaborates the psychology of Nietzsche's motif of escape from self with the help of the views of Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Karen Horney. It summarizes the root cause of failure of self-love on this Nietzschean psychology. The chapter alsThis chapter elaborates the psychology of Nietzsche's motif of escape from self with the help of the views of Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Karen Horney. It summarizes the root cause of failure of self-love on this Nietzschean psychology. The chapter also focuses on four major types of distortion, which provide the main themes of the Genealogy of Morals. These are the perversion of cruelty, the neurosis of cruel punitivism, the neurosis of resentment, and the resignatory neurosis of the ascetic ideal. In all four areas, virtue can be understood as having at its core self-affirmation or self-love, and vice self-hate and escape from self. That is, at a depth psychological level, virtue can be seen as expressive of a self-loving attitude and vice the reverse. The existentialist motif of escape from self has in Nietzsche's hands been transformed into a characterological psychology at home in virtue ethics. [Taken from Publisher's Website http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com]
Today the concept of the interpersonal field, while seldom credited to those who created it, is widely used in psychoanalysis. After reviewing how the concept of the field defines interpersonal and relational psychoanalysis, I take up the rejection of the idea in American mainstream psychoanalysis in the decades just after it was proposed by Sullivan and Fromm, why that rejection took place, and how the entire discipline of psychoanalysis in North America might have fared if the idea had been widely recognized earlier than it was.
The author discusses love desire in poem of John Clare entitled >First Love<. The purpose of this study is to understand the poem through analyzing intrinsic and extrinsic elements of the poem. The methods used were library research and structural approach. By using the method of library research, the author collects some information and document that support the process of analysis. The structural approach used by the author to discover and analyze intrinsic element inside the poem. The extrinsic element analysis discusses about love desire in this poem by using theory of love by Erich Fromm. The result of the study shows how deep the poet’s love desire and consistency of loving her are, although the girl does not love him.
There is sparse literature on the psychoanalytic treatment of Chassidic Jews. The authors of this article, both secular nonobservant psychoanalysts, have spent over a decade working with Lubavitch Chassidim in the New York area. In the Lubavitch community, the sexes are separated at three years of age, leading to same-sex cohorts from then until marriage. As with all ultra-orthodox religious groups, homosexuality is viewed in Biblical terms as an abomination and yet, not surprisingly, it exists within this community. This article deals with the analysis of homosexual issues that appear in the treatment of both male and female Lubavitch Chassidim. We discuss how homosexuality is manifested, how it is viewed, denied, and rationalized, and the functions it serves in a subculture that is inherently homocentric. The need for parameters in classical technique is discussed as a necessity for successful psychoanalytic work with this population.
The poem entitled >How Do I love Thee?< was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This poem tells about how Elizabeth Barrett Browning loves her sweetheart. Her love to her sweetheart is very wonderful and strong. The purpose of this study is to describe the category of love in the poem by using Erich Fromm’s the theory of love as the method of approach. In addition, this study also explains the characteristic of that category of love in the poem. The writer uses library research in his study for collecting the data. The result of this study shows that love desire that is felt by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is not a sexual contact but it is a wish to be a couple of lover. It can be categorized into erotic love. It has been proven by several characteristics of erotic love reflected in the poem. That characteristics are like it is not universal or it is only specific to one person for craving complete union, it is very exclusive from its own nature and strong commitment of Elizabeth Barrett Browning that makes her love is endless love.
This paper is part of my research into psychotic transference and is also related to the psychotic aspect of any adult or infantile patient in analysis. In my research, I studied the origin of the concept of transference in Charcot's time before Freud, and the transformation of this concept in psychoanalysis. Freud thought that psychotic patients were not able to establish a transference relationship, but some of his early papers show the opposite. In fact, Freud himself and then several other analysts were able to develop a personal experience regarding the possibility of contact and transferring feelings and delusional experiences in a therapeutic context – individual, group, or institution. I provide some clinical examples in this paper, as well as some theoretical, personal views regarding intrapersonal and interpersonal transference. Like Freud and Melanie Klein, I believe that transference starts with life, but that in psychoanalysis it has a particular meaning.
>1984< is a dystopian novel by George Orwell that clearly describes the life under totalitarian government. Totalitarianism is not merely a political system but also movement that goes beyond private, public, and political sphere. Totalitarian government dreams of uniformity in all aspects of life and they pursue for global domination. In order to reach for global domination and their ideal version of state, totalitarian government does not allow freedom in all aspects of life. The pursuit of global domination requires some strategies to make the society in uniformity. The strategies applied are propaganda, terror, and indoctrination. These strategies make the main characters lose the freedom and become alienated from the self and the society. Alienation and the lost of freedom also lead to inauthenticity, since they are related to each other. Inauthenticity can be caused by repression from external agents in which a person cannot do anything spontaneously since he is being dictated by other people and he cannot express what they feel freely.
The central thesis of this paper is that treatment of neglected children can better take place in a caring relationship than in psychotherapy or analysis. In order to create the basis for this idea, Part 1 introduces a milieu therapy for neglected children, developed by the author. In Part 2 of the article, it is proposed that treatment in a caring relationship is in line with the child's dependence on a caring person. It is also argued that the traditional distinction between problems in the child's environment and internal psychological difficulties seems imprecise. Instead, it is proposed that a problem has both an external and an internal aspect. This supports the idea that it may be possible to solve problems that are traditionally considered internal through environmental strategies, for example milieu therapy. The article is hypothesis-generating and builds upon clinical experience inspired by works of, among others, Erikson, Bowlby, Winnicott, and Fonagy and collaborators. Part 1 of the article is the first presentation in English of the main points of the author's books on milieu therapy. The ideas in Part 2 are published here for the first time.
Tracing Kierkegaard's reception at the interfaces of anthropology, sociology, and psychology, this chapter focuses on his treatment in key figures such as Max Weber, Ernest Becker, Erich Fromm, Jean Baudrillard, René Girard, and Anthony Giddens. The chapter also contemplates Kierkegaard's psychosocial analysis of the relationship between the individual and society, concluding with an exploration of the insider/outsider dimensions of his critiques of modernity's despair and lived Christianity. [Taken from Publisher's Website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com]
The >Freud in Příbor< publication represents the unique record of all the papers presented at the historical symposium >Psychological Birth and Infant Development,< held on August 4–5 2013 in Freud's birthplace, the town of Příbor, Czech Republic. The papers are preceded by a word from the symposium chair, an address by the President of the IPA, and an interview with Stefano Bolognini. These >Introductory remarks by the issue editors: A story of beginnings and continuities< provide the historical-cultural and dynamic context for all the ensuing chapters. This paper reviews the objectives of the symposium, the core ideas of the individual contributions in relation to the unique beginnings of Sigmund Freud in Příbor, and the unique history of psychoanalysis in the Czech Republic. The backdrop of the multidirectional complexity of development, events, and the memory of the back and forth >après-coup< deferred action reverberates throughout.
The paper, highlighting the aspect of Sigmund Freud's presymbolic and early symbolic development, traces how the >Ursprache< and >Ur-Kultur< of Příbor pressed behind other symbolic codes throughout his life's work. Weaving together multiple meanings of the words of Freud's original writings, the paper explores how his early access to a variety of symbolic codes, initially facilitated by his Příbor nanny, who spoke and sang to him in Czech and exposed him to liturgical Latin, in addition to his family's Yiddish and German, contributed to Freud's founding of psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice.
In the Soviet Union Fromm was primarily known as a social thinker. He was highly appreciated for his adherence to socialist principles, his interpretation, in Marx's spirit, of ideology as >false consciousness< as well as his creative reformulation of Marx's concept of man. Furthermore, Fromm's concept of social character gained a lot of attention in the USSR. Through elaborating the idea of social unconscious Fromm warned his readers against modern democracy, consumerism and the power of technocrats. Unfortunately his warnings were ignored by the Soviet and Russian leaders. Nevertheless, Fromm's ideas remain valid today.
In Fromm's writings, philosophy and psychoanalysis are closely intertwined. The same holds true for Sigmund Freud's self-analysis, giving birth to the psychoanalytic framework in the 1890s. Today, psychoanalytic insights are indispensable whenever philosophers examine the knowledge of oneself or the art of living. The discussion is challenging for both sides. Ehrenberg's theory of The Exhausted Self poses fundamental questions: Does autonomy still promise liberation and insight or has it turned out to be a pathological agent promoting widespread depression, burnout and borderline symptoms? Erich Fromm's contributions help us understand the dynamics of the False Self (Winnicott) and its relationship to the socioeconomic backgrounds of people. Fromm´s philosophy focuses on a critical art of living instead of postmodern self-fashioning.
In his paper, the author argues that some of Fromm's ideas have the potential to answer bigger philosophical questions. Fromm's notion of the fundamental principle of individual relatedness to the world, in particular, allows us to understand the human nature much better. Fromm's way of seeing >man as full of contradictions< is provided with another argument. Sharing Fromm's interpretation of the human freedom, the author further discusses the problem of the original source of free will and makes the case that Fromm's understanding of love is productive for integrating contemporary theory of knowledge and philosophy of human beings. The author ultimately believes that the value of Fromm's theory lies, first of all, in the consistency of his humanistic vision.
The present paper examines the clinical integration of theory and experience from the perspective of clinicians’ subjective shaping of inquiry. The author suggests that the historical, conceptual development of clinical psychoanalysis parallels the progressive articulations of consensual understanding within the clinical hour. He suggests that the clinician's utilization of vernacular elements, derivative of direct experience as well as of reference to the wider range of psychoanalytic thinking, addresses gaps and disconnections within the abstract understanding of the clinical psychoanalytic process. Providing examples from psychoanalytic history, he concludes with a contemporary example of psychoanalytic papers, reflecting vernacular elements that are of use to practicing clinicians.
The ambivalence that accompanies becoming wealthy is widely acknowledged. Wealth only is valuable if it can be put to good use, or, in other words, when it is used responsibly. Like Meister Eckhart in the later Middle Ages Erich Fromm also (>To Have Or to Be?<) pointed out that the alternative to the lack of distribution of goods is not merely a spiritual understanding of poverty but an ethical understanding of what responsibility should come together with being wealthy/rich. Wealth is, in this understanding, the capacity to distribute. In a religious approach, which Fromm maintains even as an agnostic, he proposes with Meister Eckhart to imitate the >divine< capacity of a distribution without making differences between the possible recipients, who all have the same dignity (cf. Mieth 2012a). For Fromm (like for Eckhart) >to be< is seen as a process of >detachment< as a promotion of a >productive character< which leads life and intellect to a real freedom and to the capacity of Being as an openness to Giving. In the actual discussion about the global dimension of poverty, philosophers search for the foundation of so called >positive duties<. In the case of Fromm, we have an example of a humanistic foundation of such positive duties in the orientation of human character. The normative answer to the questions raised by Fromm's cultural, sociopsychological analysis is offered, in my opinion, by Alan Gewirth's >The Community of Rights< (1996), in which the correlation of liberal, social and economic rights is demonstrated.
Fromm, Erich
(2015)
This article presents an analytic history of the legacy of Erich Fromm, the German psychoanalyst, social psychologist, critical thinker, best-selling author, and an early member of the Frankfurt School. Fromm’s intellectual insights flowed from aspects of his life and optimal marginality in relationship to various intellectual social movements and his complex relationship with the Frankfurt School. But Fromm also became a >forgotten intellectual< for some of the same biographical and sociological reasons. Ideas and scholarly influence can rise again as well as decline, so with his contemporary relevance in mind, we will discuss some of the underappreciated contributions Fromm made to the study of authoritarianism, race, and ethnicity as well as his influence on theories of gender and the practice of public sociology. There is new interest in Fromm’s work, suggesting that he might find again a place in the history and contemporary scholarship in social psychology, sociology, critical theory, and psychoanalysis.
Introduction
(2015)
Focusing on >Future Human Evolution< too often narrows the frame to individual humans only, thus avoiding the context of societies and places where we live, and Planet Earth that is increasingly assaulted by climate change and pollution. If humanity is to have any future whatsoever, evolution is sustainability, taken seriously. This article describes the evolution of sustainability thinking and the many barriers that still persist. >Sustainability< first appeared in a book title in 1976. Since then, attention to sustainability has gathered momentum, with more than five thousand books and five hundred international organizations now calling for sustainable societies, cities, businesses, and economies. Ongoing research for a >Security and Sustainability Guide< to the organizational macro-system finds that, as of June 2015, more than one thousand relevant organizations have been identified, more than half concerned with promoting sustainability. But this burgeoning movement still has a long way to go, and success is problematic: (1) accelerating climate change may offset gains; (2) despite a growing number of alliances, consortia, and networks, there is still considerable fragmentation; (3) major differences among sustainability groups dilute political impact, notably >realos< versus >fundis<, generalists versus specialists, and scientists/academics versus activists/popularizers; (4) the broad and expanding realm of national and global security is not only a barrier to sustainability but also a potential driver, once it is realized that we cannot have security without sustainability – and vice versa; (5) infoglut is a major barrier, and much better information management is needed; (6) we all have much to learn about sustainability, and >third-level scholarship< is needed to integrate numerous second-level integrators. Seven proposals are offered to accelerate efficacy of the evolution = sustainability movement.
This paper asks whether prisoners should have access to Pell Grants, for which they are currently ineligible. In the first section, the author considers philosophical arguments relating to the present ban by examining traditional concerns of deterrence, rehabilitation, and retribution. The second section explores two arguments against a more inclusive Pell Grant policy. In the third section the author argues that restoring higher education grants to prisoners is compelling, especially when one considers issues of race and class. The paper concludes by using Erich Fromm’s social theory to call into question the justice, ethics, and rationality of those societies that normalize mass incarceration.
The paper explores the wider sociocultural background of the origins of psychoanalysis. Born within the liberal Jewish community of Central Europe and built by marginal people who thrived on otherness, psychoanalysis may have originated as a creative transformation of conflicts between orthodoxy and assimilation, and between the Hebrew and Classical Greek traditions. Similarities between Jewish scholarly thought and psychoanalysis are further elaborated on, especially the aspect of mobile/dynamic >becoming< compared with static >being<: both psychoanalyst and Jewish scholar travel through human experience from place to place. This enduring movement, designed for physical and psychological survival, adaptation, and sublimation, roots and anchors them both.
Erich Fromm's scientific contributions were based on his theory of social character and the methods he developed to test it. Social character describes the deep-rooted emotional attitudes shared by people raised in the same culture. Family, schooling, work, and play shape the social character so that people want to do what they need to do to prosper economically and socially in a particular culture. Fromm's first study of German employees and workers before the rise of Hitler showed that despite subscribing to a democratic ideology the majority would support whoever gained power. The second study of Mexican peasant villagers provided statistically significant results demonstrating that social character explained both productivity and psychopathology. These findings were reinforced by subsequent studies. The nucleus of social character is the psychoanalytic character types discovered by Freud and modified by Fromm. This theory makes use of knowledge from economics, sociology, anthropology, and history. Maccoby has continued to show the relevance of the concept of social character in understanding leadership and motivation at work.
Digitised Necrophilia: Technology and Psychosocial Orientations in the Age of ISIS and Drone Strikes
(2015)
This paper is a further contribution to dramatology, introduced in this journal in 2009. It focuses on the two basic modes of communication in any dramatic situation: (1) the nonverbal transfer of feelings and emotions, originating in the preverbal period of the love relationship between mother and child, and (2) the interchange of words and thoughts that develops with the acquisition of language. The early nonverbal mode of communication is the basis for proposing to rename Freud's concept of psychic reality >emotional reality.< On this view, emotional reality is seen as the primary fact of psychological life versus thoughts expressed in words as the derivative fact. Developmentally, emotions and ideas become united in complexes combining the emotional coloration of ideas and the ideational content of emotions. From the perspective of methodology, Freud, his followers, and his critics all conflated theories of disorder and theories of treatment. At the beginning of his journey, Freud was dyadic and interpersonal in formulating a unified theory of disorder and a method of treatment. In later years, he formulated monadic and intrapersonal theories of disorder while remaining interpersonal in his method of treatment, contributing to conflicts among the various psychoanalytic schools.
Throughout history, people have accepted ideologies that >legitimate< certain hierarchical social arrangements and subsequently valorize the >desirability< of consent to the system and its leadership cadres. While rules, norms and regulations, as well as leadership, are essential for social life in any complex society, all too often certain political economic systems, their dominant values and leadership cadres tend to move beyond maintaining social order if not harmony, and instead become systems of domination, subjugation and exploitation of subalterns. For the most part people have >willingly consented< to class and ideological domination. But why do people consent to systems/leaders that act contrary to their self-interests whether economic, political or personal (self-direction/realization)? This has often been understood as >false consciousness<, a term first used by Engels and Lenin. But this concept raises a number of questions about culture, mediation, desire, agency and the limited capacity of people to understand social reality without a strong party. For Gramsci, hegemony, the ideological control of culture, fostered >willing assent< rather than simply compliance to power. His insights are especially valuable given how millions of Americans vehemently support economic policies that benefit only the elites, while their own economic situations become more precarious. They oppose unionization, universal healthcare and deny global warming .We must ask why so many people >willingly assent< to policies that benefit only the wealthy and thus act contrary to their own economic political self-interest and actively engage in denial of the consequences of their actions.
The concept of countertransference as a robust cornerstone of psychoanalytic work has gained momentum over the last five decades. It is a prime example of elastic concepts covering the range from microprocesses to global clinical phenomena. Empirical research on the treatment process has for a long time – and for good reasons – avoided even trying to measure countertransference. We report here on various efforts for approaching a methodology for measuring it. The paper organizes the various approaches in terms of stages of research.
This article analyses two Venda ngano narratives that portray coming-of-age experiences. Viewed in juxtaposition, they express the radical shift from premodern modes of material and symbolic production to the reified consciousness of capitalist relations. This shift implicates the rootedness of local world views and global market forces within colonial and Western history, as well as contemporary political and economic conditions. The first narrative accordingly describes a classic rite of passage towards adulthood and citizenship within an ancient, precolonial world. Its protagonist is the culture hero whose society prioritises qualities and ideals like spirituality and social integration. In contrast, the second story is located in the colonial world. Its young hero migrates from his rural village to the city, and his adventure is an embryonic representation of the sociopolitical and racial dynamics of the colonial encounter. His actions evolve within a modernist world view, specifically a rational materialism driven by a teleology of progress that conceives economic organisation as the mediator of social relationships and personal fulfilment. The engagement of these diverse world views with history is explored from a perspective that aligns the ancient Venda concept of zwivhuya with Fromm’s notion of qualitative freedom, of actualisation in all realms of human experience and of transcendence in all forms. The resplendent materiality presented in the second narrative is accordingly argued to conceal a spectre of fear and incomplete self-awareness. This poses a dilemma that speaks to all humanity, namely the need to transform the actual poverty of reified materiality into the wealth of an integrated world.
In this essay, I will explore the term >psychic hole,< and compare it to similar terms from the world of astrophysics and terms used in the psychoanalytic literature. I will then present my own conception of the >psychic hole< in cases of Holocaust survivors' offspring. I will explain how this >hole< is created, and describe a particular aspect of the >psychic hole< that is unique to Holocaust survivors' offspring, namely the enactments (termed >concretization< by Bergman) generated by the negated traumatic themes that reside in it. I will illustrate these enactments using clinical material taken from case studies of Holocaust survivors' offspring that I have previously published. The clinical vignettes reveal the transgenerational impact of the memory hole resulting from negation of survivor parents on the lives of their offspring, up to the third generation. They also show the painful journey from enactments to psychic representations, a journey which exposes the traumatic events that have been denied or repressed, and facilitates the work of mourning and the eventual achievement of a better integrated self. Finally, I will offer technical suggestions for analysts to help patients transform psychic holes into psychic representations.
The psychoanalytic literature on somnophilic and necrophilic fantasies and acts is indeed sparse. It is argued here that one must distinguish the forms of fantasy, playacting, and actual behavior that lie along a spectrum of romantic or sexual behavior involving people who are sleeping, drugged, immobile, inanimate, comatose, or dead. Regardless of these distinctions, however, the underlying dynamics commonly involve reunion with the mother, an inability to mourn, fear of the female, and an attempt at mastering and transcending the fear of death. To highlight these psychodynamics, a clinical case of somnophilia, Pedro Almodóvar’s >Talk to Her< (a film about romantic relationships with comatose women), and the case of Count von Cosel, a quixotic necrophiliac, are presented. Gender differences are emphasized in the analysis of case material and cultural tropes. [Taken from Publisher’s Website: http://apa.sagepub.com/content/63/5/857.abstract [doi: 10.1177/0003065115606132]
In den 1980er Jahren begannen die das Feld der Glücksforschung weitgehend dominierenden Vertreter der so genannten ‚Positive Psychology’ offensiv damit, sich selbst als glückliche Individuen zu thematisieren. Dadurch stellten sie nicht nur die Authentizität der von ihnen beanspruchten Redeposition heraus, sondern demonstrierten zugleich, dass die von ihnen geschilderten Anleitungen zu einem glücklichen Leben an ihnen selbst erfolgreich exekutiert wurden. Aufgrund dieses signifikanten Wandels des epistemischen self-fashionings versuchte sich die ‚Positive Psychology’ – namentlich zu nennen sind insbesondere Ed Diener und Martin E.P. Seligman – bewusst von anderen Formen zeitgenössischer Glücksreflexion abzuheben, etwa ökonomisch oder neurowissenschaftlich argumentierenden Spielarten, aber auch von einer psychologischen Glücksforschung, die sich in der Tradition der humanistischen Psychologie der 1960er und 1970er Jahre verortete. Deren Vertreter nämlich – etwa Abraham Maslow oder Erich Fromm – waren lange Zeit auf dem Gebiet der Glücksreflexion tonangebend gewesen, insbesondere weil es ihnen gelungen war, durch ihren Fokus auf die Bedürfnisse und Möglichkeiten menschlichen Empfindens und Handelns eine überzeugende Alternative zum wissenschaftstheoretisch wie institutionell zeitweise dominierenden Behaviorismus aufzuzeigen. - Der wissenshistorisch argumentierende Beitrag möchte bei diesem Befund ansetzen und aufzeigen, welche Formen der Selbstthematisierung forschender Subjekte in unterschiedliche Paradigmen der Glücksreflexion Eingang fanden und inwiefern sie für das Selbstverständnis von epistemic communities wie auch für den epistemischen Zuschnitt des Gegenstandes konstitutiv waren. Denn angesichts des szientifischen Gestus der ‚Positive Psychology’ ist das ostentative Hervortreten des Forschungssubjekts selbst eine bemerkenswerte Entwicklung. Einerseits sollen in dem Beitrag deshalb die sich wandelnden Glücksvorstellungen rekonstruiert, andererseits soll der Ort des sich selbst thematisierenden, forschenden Individuums untersucht werden. Konkret kann dies anhand repräsentativer Beispiele der amerikanischen psychologischen Glücksforschung zwischen 1960 und 2000 dargelegt werden, die auch in Westeuropa – namentlich in Großbritannien und Deutschland – breite Aufnahme gefunden hat. In ihrem Wissenschaftsverständnis humanistische Abhandlungen arbeiteten mit einem reflexiv-kritischen Glücksbegriff, der soziokulturelle wie politische Rahmenbedingungen mit zu thematisieren und Vorstellungen menschlichen Glücks in den Horizont einer (kultur-)kritischen Gegenwartsdiagnose zu rücken erlaubte. Glücksreflexion wurde hier zu einer gesellschaftsanalytischen Basisoperation, mit deren Hilfe die kollektiven Zwänge und Widersprüche einer organisierten Moderne ebenso in den Blick genommen werden konnten wie deren individuelle Folgekosten. Diesem kultur- und gesellschaftskritischen Anspruch entsprach auf der Ebene der Analyse und der Selbstaussagen eine Redeposition, die eine hohe analytische Distanz zu dem zu untersuchenden Gegenstand aufrechterhielt und eine persönliche Involviertheit der Forscherpersönlichkeit allenfalls verhalten artikulierte. Die ‚Positive Psychology’ dagegen legte ihren Forschungen einen grundsätzlich andersartigen Glücksbegriff zugrunde, der sich als radikal subjektbezogen charakterisieren lässt und mit einer Präferenz der Forschenden für ein sozialwissenschaftliches Methodenrepertoire, etwa für die Umfrageforschung, einherging. Glück wurde hier nahezu vollständig in der privaten Sphäre der Subjekte verortet, so dass Handlungsmacht und Eigenverantwortung von Akteuren für das eigene Wohlergehen postuliert werden konnten. Übergeordnete sozioökonomische und politische Faktoren wurden weitgehend ausgeblendet, da diese komplexen strukturellen Dimensionen den unmittelbaren Zugriffsmöglichkeiten des Einzelnen entzogen sind. Folglich öffneten sich die Vertreter der ‚Positive Psychology’ für öffentlichkeitswirksame Genres wie die appellative Self-Help-Literatur. Kennzeichen wurde dabei der Verweis auf die eigene Biographie, die als Beispiel gelingender Selbstregulation und Glücksbemeisterung vorgeführt wurde. Für die Analyse können neben prominenten Publikationen der genannten Autoren Interviews und andere Selbstaussagen ausgewertet werden.. Durch die Einbeziehung wissens-, kommunikations-, emotions- und mediengeschichtlicher Herangehensweisen ist der Beitrag bewusst interdisziplinär angelegt ; indem die Rezeption der amerikanischen Glücksforschung in Deutschland gleichfalls thematisiert wird, verfolgt er zugleich eine transfergeschichtliche Ambition.
Empirical research substantiates Ferenczi's conception of the etiological importance of early neglect and abuse in the development of psychosis. Abuse can derail the development of language, identity, and social relationships that are intrinsic to schizophrenia, possibly through undermining secure attachment relationships. The Lacanian emphasis on language and early proto-dialogues with the Other can be useful in understanding this process. Some therapeutic implications for psychoanalytic approaches to the treatment of psychosis are proposed.