This volume is the second monograph to be published by the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and deals with the ubiquitous problems of identity. Identity is defined as the ability to experience one's self as something that has continuity, uniqueness, and sameness. The vicissitudes of identity have been assessed by other authors, but they have never integrated this data into orthodox psychoanalytic theory. The author brings this theme within the mainstream of psychoanalysis. Dr. Jacobson is a brilliant clinician and is able to articulate her ideas with simplicity. She graphically harmonizes object relations, psychosexual development, and ego maturation and its role in the development of self. She redefines such basic assumptions as infantile narcissism, masochism, the distinction between ego and self, and self and object representations. She traces the development of identity from the early infantile period to the postadolescent period. To illustrate her concept she discusses her theories

The Self and the Object World.

JOSEPH D. LICHTENBERG, FRANK M. LACHMANN, AND JAMES L. FOSSHAGE: Self and Motivational Systems: Toward a Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ, 1992, 272 pages, $39.95.Built around articles already published elsewhere, Chapters 2 on model scenes, 7 on the interpretive sequence, and 8 on selfobject experience, this volume has additional chapters on: motivational systems; clinical truth; human development; unconscious mentation; the path of awareness; defense conflict; values and morality; and theory of technique. Essentially neo-Freudian in perspective, it is steeped in motivational concerns (five instead of merely two), infant and early childhood development (pre-oedipal instead of merely oedipal), the central therapeutic role of interpretable historical scenes ("here and now" instead of merely "there and then"), and of the analyst who selects them. In spite of such differences, it is rooted in the Freudian tradition by virtue of putting the analyst's interpretive metapsychology of motives in the conceptual and therapeutic foreground.These three like-minded collaborators gain strength from supplementing and supporting one another. Wanting from their finished product, however, is the sense of purpose and momentum created in the mind and spirit of a single writer. This is not a book that poses searching questions still unanswered; nor does it critically examine basic postulates still unclarified; it gives a secure presentation of an arrived-at point of view.To explore its central themes would require far more than a brief review. Instead, I limit my comments to three salient issues that, in my view, require further attention. First is the pervasive and ineradicable presence of suggestion in all coparticipant psychoanalytic therapy, especially the irrational suggestibility of patients and, though frequently overlooked, of their analysts as well. Patients who accept anyone's motivational system that is discordant with the evidence of their own actual experience are deeply dependent, and irrationally so. As one interpreted patient put it, "'Oh why should I believe any of this?!!'" (p. 27). And rather than asking her what she believes--or if they asked, not reporting it--they proceed to reiterate their own believed historical, model-scene interpretations. For them, no serious doubt; for their patient, irrepressible doubt. Who's trying to suggest what to whom, here?Second is whether the dynamic unconscious, unlike the motivational-systematic unconscious, can be directly interpreted by model scenes of past events, or whether, instead, such intellectualized schemes lead to pale reflections of the dynamic unconscious as it actually lives, actively and passively. The curious thing about the so-called lived past in psychoanalytic therapy is that it is not at all past; it lives on in the dynamic unconscious present. …

Self and Motivational Systems: Toward a Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique

This review examines what is known about estrangement between parents and their adult children in terms of definition, prevalence, causes, and consequences. Estrangement has been defined and conceptualised in different ways, although most definitions have focused on the negative quality of the relationship and the voluntarily or intentional decision of at least one family member to initiate and maintain distance. A diverse range of factors which are often interlinked has been found to contribute to estrangement. The consequences of estrangement from a parent or child include experiencing reduced levels of psychological well-being, feelings of loss, and experiences and/or perceptions of stigma. The estrangement literature has the potential to reveal variation in the quality of parent-child relationships in adulthood so that family scholars can move beyond our assumptions and understand family relationships as they are, rather than how they could or ‘should’ be.

Parents and Children Who Are Estranged in Adulthood: A Review and Discussion of the Literature.

Research is limited regarding closeness in parent-adolescent relationships (PAR), particularly in marginalised communities. The research objective was to explore closeness in PAR in one semi-rural, low-income Coloured community in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. This study was exploratory in nature, making use of a cross-sectional survey research design and semi-structured interviews. Fifty families (67 parents and 50 adolescents) were eligible and willing to participate in the quantitative part of this study, while 12 families (19 parents and 12 adolescents) took part in the qualitative part of the study. For the empirical investigation into close PAR, the following questionnaires were administered to parents: Mother and Father Versions of the Inventory of Parent Attachment (IPA), Revised Inventory of Parent Attachment (RIPA), and the Relationship Closeness Inventory (RCI). The questionnaires are currently not standardized for South African populations, therefore they were adapted to suit the specific context and translated into Afrikaans. For statistical analysis of the surveys, summary statistics was performed using measures like means, standard deviations, frequency tables, and histograms. Reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach’s alpha. For comparison of the different instruments, correlations were calculated. Comparisons between different groupings were done using two-way ANOVA. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data and to explore the participants’ constructions of close PAR. General findings were that most female participants reported close mother-daughter relationships while most male participants reported relatively close father-son relationships. Overall, mothers generally spent more time with their adolescent children. Fathers and daughters generally reported less close relationships with one another. Although fathers were relatively more involved in their children’s lives compared to fathers in prior research studies, mothers and adolescents reported to have a closer bond. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za

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Exploring closeness in parent-adolescent relationships (PAR) in a semi-rural, low-income community in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

À Claude Debussy

Margaret Mahler and John Bowlby's positions are crucial in understanding the tensions that can arise in mother–son relationships. A more recent development of a systems view illuminates the co-construction of this relationship that occurs mainly out of awareness. A systems model of development that describes the co-construction and bi-directional influence between mothers and sons will be used in this paper. The often-neglected subjectivity of the mother is the focus, and the relationship between the mother and her adult son is viewed as a process whereby all participants strive to achieve a balance among attachment, separation, and autonomy. In addition, the contributions of the mother and the impact on her of the son's difficulties in attachment, separation, and autonomy are highlighted. In a case illustration, the subjectivity of the mother in relation to her son is explicated, showing how the son distances himself from his mother and why themother is at a loss to understand how and why this h...

The subjectivity of the mother in the mother–son relationship. Attachment, separation, and autonomy

Debussy attempted to conceal the stresses of his early life: his father leaving to fight in the Franco-Prussian War, his younger siblings being sent to live with an aunt, and Debussy remaining alone with his mother. His early-discovered musical talent provided him with a sense of continuity throughout his life. However, he felt his training at the Paris Conservatoire to be restrictive and rebelled against it in the musical style he developed. Debussy’s opera Pelleas et Melisande gave him an opportunity to creatively depict these thwarted passions and his aversion to restriction.

Claude Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande: Secrecy, mystery and ambiguity in Debussy's life and art

This paper discusses the conflict between lustful desire leading to an extramarital affair and loyalty to one's partner. Drawing a parallel between the hero of Wagner's opera and the conductor-hero of the film Meeting Venus, the consequences of being an “outsider” are being considered. Whereas Tannhauser's conflict is resolved in that he finds salvation from the Virgin Mary, Szanto is abandoned by the woman he loved and by his wife. He remains an outsider and alone.

Meeting Venus: A film about passion, and the outsider

D.H. Lawrence's play The daughter-in-law, written in 1912, explores underlying, implicit conflict within a family. Set in a small mining town in England, the family consists of Mrs. Gascoyne, her sons Luther and Joe, and her daughter-in-law, Minnie, Luther's wife. The central conflict is between Mrs. Gascoyne and Minnie, who challenges her mother-in-law's control over her sons, who also compete with each other for the love and recognition of their mother. Joe, the youngest son, perturbs the family system and acts as a mediator, functioning as a family therapist. He sets a process in motion through which the rigid family alliances are challenged and ultimately realigned. Mrs. Gascoyne's self-image as a perfect, self-sacrificing, self-righteous mother ultimately is transformed, and she accepts Minnie as a family member. Brandchaft's concept of “pathological accommodation” explicates how enmeshed family members can collide, and thereby stultify their personal development. As Joe plays his role of “f...

Gertrude Schwartzman

Papers

The subjectivity of the mother in the mother–son relationship. Attachment, separation, and autonomy

Claude Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande: Secrecy, mystery and ambiguity in Debussy's life and art

Meeting Venus: A film about passion, and the outsider

D.H. Lawrence's The daughter-in-law: Transforming a family system