Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa 

About: Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Psychoanalytic theory & Projective identification. It has an ISSN identifier of 1023-0548. Over the lifetime, 154 publications have been published receiving 570 citations.

Problems in the psychoanalysis of certain narcissistic disorders

Abstract: This paper considers the psychopathology and treatment of a particular group of narcissistic disorders which can be characterized by their use of 'simulation' in their attempt to resolve the conflicts of the Core Complex The invasive, narcissistic mother's demand for success is responded to with an evident compliance but with a covert rebellion manifested in failure, accompanied by intense feelings of shame and low self-esteem This is seen in the analysis in the patient's apparently positive response being followed by a Negative Therapeutic Reaction The structure is seen to be as much concerned with protecting the mother from the infant's destructiveness as it is with protecting the infant from the colonizing mother (cf Winnicott's 'False Self') What is regarded as the hallmark of narcissistic disorders, namely shame, is found to be part of a defensive structure concerned with the exclusion of extreme violence and intolerable guilt The significance of the father is discussed Difficulties that arise in the analysis of such patients are considered

The Good Society and the Inner World : Psychoanalysis, Politics and Culture, Michael Rustin : book review

Abstract: The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe is an event that has had profound psychological consequences for left-wing psychologists and social scientists committed to the ideal of democratic socialism. So far these events and their psychological expression have not yet emerged explicitly in the psycho-analytic literature. On the other hand, work by left-wing psycho-analytic thinkers, committed to forging personal and intellectual links between marxism and psycho-analysis, are still being regularly published. The most creative and productive of these authors are British, which is not surprising given the co-existence of both an established psycho-analytic community and muscular socialist opposition under a Conservative British government.

Containing states of mind : exploring Bion's 'container model' in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Duncan Cartwright : book review

Abstract: Of all the post-classical theoretical advances in psychoanalysis, Bion's container-contained model (of mental development) has been one of the most influential. Despite its origins in Melanie Klein's theory of projective identification, it burst the latter's conceptual limits to become a new model of mind, a new way of viewing the interaction between minds, and a new way of understanding how psychoanalysis impacts positively on disturbed states of mind. Given its professional importance, it is curious that no author has devoted an entire book to the therapeutic meanings and applications of containment dynamics - until now, that is.