Showing papers in "The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis in 1980"

Some interpersonal aspects of self-mutilation in a borderline patient.

Abstract: Some interpersonal aspects of self-mutilation and vampiristic blood rituals in borderline states are discussed, as these were clarified in the therapeutic relationship established with a hospitalized young woman. The therapeutic stance during the period of inpatient treatment discussed emphasized consistent reinforcement of boundaries and limits in order to facilitate a mutual exploration of the interpersonal context in which her symptoms emerged. Blood rituals repeatedly expressed primitive identifications with intrusive, controlling, and sadistic aspects of a psychotic mothering figure. These were reflected in the treatment in her crazed, angry demands--through her symptoms--for a "caring" response from the therapist, whom she deliberately and vengefully assaulted through the medium of her own blood. Her manipulative and controlling efforts to maintain a human attachment highlighted her anxieties about separation and abandonment. In subsequent phases of the psychotherapeutic work, her relation to her own blood reflected struggles with womanhood and sexuality. Language: en

Cognition in Psychoanalysis

Abstract: In a paper published in 1965 in Volume 8 of Science and Psychoanalysis, edited by Masserman, I wrote: Cognition is or has been, up to now, the Cinderella of psychoanalysis and psychiatry. No other field of the psyche has been so consistently neglected by clinicians and theoreticians alike. Isolated studies and manifestations of interest have not so far developed into a definite trend. (Arieti, 1965)

On the psychology and psychopathology of primal-scene experience.

Abstract: The importance of primal-scene experience is suggested by the wide range of attention it has received, with a multitude of derivative phenomena being attributed to its influence. Emphasis has been on possible psychiatric problems, and almost all available reports are clinical and anecdotal. The classical psychoanalytic view has been that such stimulation, be it through actual witnessing or fantasy, results (especially in children) in experience of anxiety, intense eroticization, and sadomasochistic confusions about sexuality. It is suggested here that issues of affectional love and fears of aloneness and feelings of vulnerability may often be the focus of primal-scene reactions. A wide range of evidence has been presented here to support the view that primal-scene experience per se is not necessarily deleterious, and that traumatic or pathogenic effects usually occur only within a context of general brutality or disturbed family relationships. In contradistinction, some emphasis here has been placed on possible positive effects of primal-scene experience. There is a clear need for further study, especially among nonpsychiatrically selected persons, for understanding to be advanced regarding the vicissitudes of both normal and pathological primal-scene experience.