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Showing papers in "International Forum of Psychoanalysis in 1994"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Freud's initial aversion toward sexual aetiology is investigated, and a significant connection between sexuality and death is found in the medical practice of female circumcision and castration in the treatment of hysteria.
Abstract: The present study focuses on Freud's discovery of sexual aetiology in the period from his studies in Paris and Berlin (1885–86) to self-analysis (1897). The study gives a reassessment of both the link and the break between Freud's early works and the contemporary medical views and splits concerning sexual aetiology, which is relevant for the understanding of Freud's later developments. Freud's initial aversion toward sexual aetiology is investigated, and a significant connection between sexuality and death is found in the medical practice of female circumcision and castration in the treatment of hysteria. Finally, the relevance of the tabooed surgical operations is discussed in relation to a series of important moments for the birth of psychoanalysis (the collaboration with Fliess and the operation on Emma Eckstein, the Irma dream, the seduction theory and its abandonment, and the emergence in Freud of the memory of the death of little Julius as the “germ of guilt”).

10 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines Freud's interpretation of the myth of the fall, which he sent to Jung in December of 1911, and argues that many features of the Fall myth, which Freud construed in Oedipal terms, are more intelligible in light of his theories of infantile sexual researches.
Abstract: This paper examines Freud's interpretation of the myth of the Fall, which he sent to Jung in December of 1911. After a textual-historical exegesis of the Genesis narrative, I argue that many features of the myth, which Freud construed in Oedipal terms, are more intelligible in light of his theories of infantile sexual researches, which he abandoned in 1910. The etiological shift away from infantile sexual researches (and the consequent Oedipalization of analytic theory) were 1) not prompted solely by clinical considerations, and 2) heralded dramatic changes in attitudes toward children and the rejection of paternal authority in Freud and his circle, and 3) corresponding changes in the structure and organization of the psychoanalytic movement itself, creating an orthodoxy or “party line”. The term “orthodoxy” means “uniformity of belief”, and is usually applied to religious groups, whose dogmatic emphasis on a specific body of doctrine serves to define the group's membership and boundaries, and to...

9 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to make foreign colleagues familiar with the development and present the status of psychoanalysis in Italy. The author shows how, also in the case of Italy, true international exchange is the necessary condition for psychoanalysis to grow and reach a satisfying development. The contributions of such pioneers as R. Assagioli, E. Weiss, E. Gaddini, G. Benedetti and P.F. Galli show the direction we must take. Only by following in their steps will we be able to be creative in our field, i.e. bring about the new synthesis between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy which is implicit in the work of G. Benedetti.

8 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In psychoanalytical practice important, but less studied, transformative functions are performed by verbal comments which do not correspond to the classic model of mutative interpretations proposed by Strachey.
Abstract: In psychoanalytical practice important, but less studied, transformative functions are performed by verbal comments which do not correspond to the classic model of mutative interpretations proposed by Strachey. The Authors describe some characteristics of such clinical situations, without coming into the better known categories of variations in technique. Such enunciations seem not to have a “strong”, (already clearly defined) meaning in the mind of the analyst, but contain rather a “weak” semantic potential, which can only develop with the active cooperation of the patient. In the light of these experiences, the Authors reconsider the general nature of psychoanalytical interpretation and emphasize the intersubjective and dialogical nature of the interpretive work carried out in analysis.

7 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that psychoanalytic treatment deals with the capacity of the self to formulate and express thoughts in a truthful way, which differs in this way from goal-directed activities, which communicate more easily with the systems world.
Abstract: I have argued that psychoanalysis belongs to the healing tradition and is part of modernity and metropolis, which increases the demands on the self to be able to unfold and communicate in different milieus. Psychoanalysis accordingly differs from many other medical activities since it is not found in the field of goal directed actions, but in a field concerned with the subjective world. Psychoanalytic treatment deals with the capacity of the self to formulate and express thoughts in a truthful way. It differs in this way from goal directed activities, which communicate more easily with the systems world. Psychoanalysis, which has a more private character, is threatened by the systems world materialized in the rules of the socio-medical security systems. Many times they question such fundamentals in the psychoanalytic setting as regularity including frequency of sessions per week, initiation of therapy with an open end and confidentiality. When erroneously constructed the socio-medical security sy...

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Bowlby may be viewed as one of the strongest exponents of the alternative psychoanalytic approach initiated by Ferenczi as mentioned in this paper, and his most important contributions are, on a theoretical level, to have potentially placed psychoanalysis onto a firm evolutionary basis, and, at a practical level to have generated an enormous amount of empirical research.
Abstract: Bowlby may be viewed as one of the strongest exponents of the alternative psychoanalytic approach initiated by Ferenczi. His most important contributions are, on a theoretical level, to have potentially placed psychoanalysis onto a firm evolutionary basis, and, at a practical level, to have generated an enormous amount of empirical research. The main traits he shares with Ferenczi are independence of mind and the stress on a loving relationship in normal development and on real-life traumatic events in psychopathology. The similarities between them seem to be due to a convergence, or at the most to an indirect influence of Ferenczi, due to Bowlby's associations with Melanie Klein and the British Middle Group. As regards the specific issue of real-life experience, although Bowlby acknowledges Ferenczi's priority, he seems to have arrived at this concept independently.

4 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the steps laid down by Freud in building the psychoanalytic edifice, and suggest that the renewed interest in the environment, in real traumas, and in the vicissitudes of object relations could be a "paradigm change" in psychoanalysis: a return to Freud's original seduction theory.
Abstract: Contemporary psychoanalysis emphasizes the role of “real” trauma, as it is well shown by recent sociological and theoretical developments (such as Kohut's Self psychology, object relation theory, renewed interest in Ferenczi's and Sullivan's contributions, etc.). To understand more clearly these developments, the author traces again the steps laid down by Freud in building the psychoanalytic edifice. The renewed interest in the environment, in real traumas, and in the vicissitudes of object relations could be a “paradigm change” in psychoanalysis: a return to Freud's original seduction theory. This development is seen as related to the difficulties of Freud's drive theory.

3 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the structure, process and result of a psychoanalytic process in medical health care standards in terms of the competence of the therapist and the efforts made to maintain this comptetence.
Abstract: Quality assurance aims to give an objective measurement of results or products against standards defined beforehand. In medical health care standards are discussed in terms of structure, process and result. In psychoanalysis and long term psychotherapy structure first of all refers to the competence of the therapist and the efforts made to maintain this comptetence. Parameters reflecting the process are discussed with reference to 1. The way in which the patient takes contact or is referred to the analyst and the way the analyst selects patients; 2. The way in which the analyst initiates and conducts treatments with special reference to the setting; 3. the way in which transference and counter-transference develops, i.e. the psychoanalytic process, and 4. the way in which treatments are terminated or interupted. Result refers to the general outcome of the practice and in which way it fulfills its own aims, i.e. that psychoanalytical processes are initiated and conducted. The parameters identified...

2 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the psychodynamic issues in the workplace that underlie the symptoms of the sick building syndrome, factors that increase susceptibility, and the unconscious functions the syndrome plays in the life of employees.
Abstract: The sick building syndrome occurs when employees collectively experience something in the building as making them physically ill. Traditionally the sick building syndrome has been the domain of physical scientists, who have localized their investigations to the physical entities of the workplace. However, in the two decades this phenomena has been studied little evidence has contributed to the belief that physical causes can be isolated. Recent studies are suggesting that we begin to investigate the psychological basis of the disorder. This paper investigates the sick building disease from a psychoanalytic perspective, that is, the psychodynamic issues in the workplace that underlie the abberation, factors in the workplace that increase susceptibility, and the unconscious functions the syndrome plays in the life of employees.

2 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative to Freud's genetic interpretation is suggested: a perception by the human mind of a basic aspect of human relatedness, which is fundamentally based on being one with the external world as a whole.
Abstract: Freuds discussion of the “oceanic feeling” in The Civilization and its Discontents is reviewed. An alternative to Freud's genetic interpretation is suggested: a perception by the human mind of a basic aspect of human relatedness. David Bohm's implicate order, Kelman's kairos and communing and Bion's transformation in O and faith are discussed as examples of an understanding of human relatedness as fundamentally based on “being one with the external world as a whole”. In a clinical vignette I present the analytic work with a woman who feels she is not accepted as a member of the human kind neither by her fellow human beings nor by God. Some possible implications for the psychoanalytic work of the view of human relatedness which I have presented are suggested.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The path from narcissism to self pathology is described through five case vignettes as discussed by the authors, and the diagnosis of narcissism was based on an inability to relate to other people due to a fixation to an early stage of development.
Abstract: The path from narcissism to self pathology is described through five case vignettes. In Analysis Terminable and Interminable Freud presented a case illustration to argue that when a negative transference is not present, it can not be analyzed. After Freud, some analysts seem to have taken this argument a step further. They assumed that a patient's admiration of the analyst invariably conceals devaluation and therefore, beneath the positive transference there always lurks a negative transference. In this same paper Freud also described two “bedrocks”, which psychoanalysis can not penetrate. A man must accept his passive, feminine attitute toward another man. A woman must accept that she lacks a penis. Subsequently, these clinical and theoretical narcissistic issues have been reconceptualized within self pathology. The diagnosis of narcissism was based on an inability to relate to other people due to a fixation to an early stage of development. Additionally, narcissism signified defenses against ra...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors elaborated the view that interpretation is the specific relationship mode of psychoanalysis and provided an alternative to internalised experiences, in which transference is a circular process in which the analyst and analysand both participate.
Abstract: In the development of the psychoanalytical treatment technique, a polarity has formed between interpretation and relationship. In contrast to this, the view is elaborated in this paper that interpretation is the specific relationship mode of psychoanalysis. Against the background of the object relationship theory, interpretation work provides an alternative to internalised experiences. A prerequisite is the concept, that transference is a circular process, in which the analyst and analysand both participate.

Journal ArticleDOI
Paul V. Trad1
TL;DR: In this article, a newly described developmental phenomenon called previewing is described, which is the strategy by which the caregiver introduces the infant to upcoming developmental skill and the interpersonal implications this skill will have for the dyadic relationship.
Abstract: A repertoire of developmental capacities facilitates the infant's understanding of reality, including: categorization, amodal perception, effectance motivation, attachment behavior, primary and secondary processes. A newly described developmental phenomenon—previewing is the strategy by which the caregiver introduces the infant to upcoming developmental skill and the interpersonal implications this skill will have for the dyadic relationship. Through previewing, the infant comes to understand that seemingly uncontrollable developmental changes as well as changes in subjective perception can be mastered. Because it is derived from early life experience, previewing may also contribute to our understanding of perceptions of adults. This paper discusses the developmental proclivities that characterize the perception of reality.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The history of American psychoanalytic thought can be divided into three phases: the first one of purification, the second of agglomeration, and the third of investigation as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Ferenczi and Sullivan developed many similar clinical ideas but the historical evidence indicates that essentially they were developed independently and rested on very different theoretical premises. This conclusion runs counter to the current ideology of ecumenism which blurs intellectual differences. The history of American psychoanalytic thought can be divided into three phases: the first one of purification (until about 1970), the second of agglomeration (from 1970 to the present), and the third of investigation (emerging in the putative future). Were clinical and theoretical differences resolved by a scientific investigation, then Ferenczi's martyrdom and Sullivan's excommunication would have been avoided.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, the authors argued that the mutual influence that runs through and even defines the analytic process must also be recognized and account for this influence, while preserving the power of experience that is fundamentally intrapsychic and private.
Abstract: Psychoanalysis, one hundred years after its establishment as an intellectual discipline and as a therapeutic modality, is undergoing a significant change in its theoretical framework. We are becoming increasingly aware of the ubiquity and inevitability of the mutual influence that runs through and even defines the analytic process, and we need new concepts to recognize and account for this influence. However, we must also preserve our recognition of the power of experience that is fundamentally intrapsychic and private. Some issues that emerge from our growing appreciation of the dynamic tension between the relational and the private are illustrated in a clinical example.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the International Forum of Psychoanalysis published Psychoanalysis: Per via di porre o per via di levare? International Forum Psychoanalysis Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 242-243.
Abstract: (1994). Psychoanalysis: Per via di porre o per via di levare? International Forum of Psychoanalysis: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 242-243.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest an understanding of the Process as intrinsic to the functional structure of the human psyche and therefore universal, and of the Content of that process as the historically and the culturally determined element, constituting the circumstantial manifestation in the psychological experience.
Abstract: Working within the new philosophy of science (Scientific Neorealism) I suggest a form of understanding the dynamic structuring and manifestations of the universal and the cultural components in the psychological phenomena. I consider that in every psychological phenomenon there exists a Process and a Content. I suggest an understanding of the Process as intrinsic to the functional structure of the human psyche and therefore universal, and of the Content of that process as the historically and the culturally determined element, constituting the circumstantial manifestation in the psychological experience. A psychological phenomenon such as projection will represent the expulsive Process and that which is put on to the other will be the Content. Such a content is what is historically and culturally experienced as unacceptable and becomes threatening to the ego. The content of projection could therefore be any feeling or idea. The sexual content of the projective process would be just one of the man...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Consensual validation as mentioned in this paper is a technique that contrasts the patient's subjective perceptions with objective reality, juxtaposes the past memories with the contemporaneous experience of the analytic encounter, and, in so doing, enhances the capacity for interpersonal experience.
Abstract: Consensual validation, a term first used in psychoanalysis by Sullivan, refers to a technique that contrasts the patient's subjective perceptions with objective reality, juxtaposes the patient's past memories with the contemporaneous experience of the analytic encounter, and, in so doing, enhances the capacity for interpersonal experience. The diagnostic and treatment applications of consensual validation strive to overcome distortions contained in the patient's representational domain. In general terms, consensual validation encourages the patient to become sensitive to these distortions of perception. Distortions refer to developmental episodes during which the patient received negative validation or no validation for emotional experience. Distortions also reflect the varied emotional experiences the patient associates with different attachment figures. As a result of the process of consensual validation, the patient may gradually relinquish these distortions, replacing them with adaptive inter...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a phenomenologically oriented Daseinsanalysis is proposed, which rejects the dualism of psyche and soma; it understands the bodily disease as an "embodying" of ill-attuned world-relations.
Abstract: Phenomenologically oriented psychosomatics means that the disease is understood as a limitation of individual freedom which affects the patient's existence as a whole. Thus, the primary concern is not the search for its psychogenesis, but based on the meaning-content of the disease, an attempt is made at clarifying in what way the patient relates to the world at a given moment in time. This touches upon the gesture-character of the disorder. In this context, the question arises as to how the choice of disease and the specificity of the organ have to be interpreted. Thus, phenomenologically oriented Daseinsanalysis rejects the dualism of psyche and soma; it understands the bodily disease as an “embodying” of ill-attuned world-relations.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss two clinical situations in which the analyst addressed the impact of the health care system on the psychoanalytic process and the interference of insurance systems influences treatment issues of confidentiality and the regard for tolerating uncertainty and the unknown.
Abstract: The specter of managed health care introduces a third party into the consulting room. This is incongruous with the psychoanalytic process. This article discusses two clinical situations in which the analyst addressed the impact of the health care system on the psychoanalytic process. The interference of insurance systems influences treatment issues of confidentiality and the regard for tolerating uncertainty and the unknown.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The overall accepted rules established by the Swiss federal government are to the effect that insurance companies must pay for psychotherapy (including psychoanalysis) with two weekly sessions over three years and thereafter 1 weekly session for an additional 3 years.
Abstract: The overall accepted rules established by the Swiss federal government are to the effect that insurance companies must pay for psychotherapy (including psychoanalysis) with two weekly sessions over three years and thereafter 1 weekly session for an additional 3 years. As far as medical psychotherapy is concerned, there is no legal limitation as to who is entitled to perform psychotherapy, although medical health legislations vary from canton to canton. The situation is different with non-medical psychotherapy which, for the time being, is dependent on cantonal legislation. My comment includes the question of the effectiveness of various schools of psychotherapy, a controversy that has a worldwide impact. It tends with a short summary of Daseinsanalytic therapy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors elaborate their thinking on the intersubjective space or field, unfolding between the analyst and the patient, where both influence each other consciously and unconsciously in an ongoing dialectics.
Abstract: In my paper I elaborate my thinking on the intersubjective space or field, unfolding between the analyst and the patient, where both influence each other consciously and unconsciously in an ongoing dialectics. Different factors, which influence us as psychoanalysts in our choice of theoretical school are discussed. My point of view is that we invest emotionally in different theories, which then function as a sort of inner discussion partners, open for new interpretations or “readings”, even if they in a way are consistent. Bion's theory concerning the development of thought and thinking is discussed; The clinical vignettes make his underlining of the emotional experiencies, as the driving factor in transforming sensations and emotions to higher levels of symbolization, more comprehensible.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, current issues of psychoanalytic technique (panel discussion) International Forum of Psychoanalysis: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 243-246.
Abstract: (1994). Current issues of psychoanalytic technique (panel discussion) International Forum of Psychoanalysis: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 243-246.