The death of an analyst does not imply a socially sanctioned role for their analysand as a mourner. Through an account of experiences following her first analyst's death, the author reflects on the role of writing as a m...The death of an analyst does not imply a socially sanctioned role for their analysand as a mourner. Through an account of experiences following her first analyst's death, the author reflects on the role of writing as a mode of grieving, on the impact of her subsequent analysis, and on the holding function of analytic community.
In this article, I argue that psychopathology ubiquitously pervades individual and social life. As Freud wrote, each of us finds some way of distorting reality, and as Laing contended, human beings have an almost unlimit...In this article, I argue that psychopathology ubiquitously pervades individual and social life. As Freud wrote, each of us finds some way of distorting reality, and as Laing contended, human beings have an almost unlimited capacity for self-deception. History is a chronicle of fantasies, mirages, distortions, and metaphysical consolations believed as apodictic reality, and the bizarre magico-salvific stratagems people adopted to ward off disease, catastrophe, and death. And yet many (even psychoanalysts) maintain the notion (or fantasy) that we perceive reality clearly and sanely. I contend, on the contrary, that we have no epistemologically foolproof way of discerning our own deceptions and defects, and that we find all manner of ingenious excuses not to see ourselves.
Within the context of the debate over teleanalysis, I wish to reintroduce the discussion of voice as the primary link between analyst and patient, a link present in analysis on the phone. Far from questioning the importa...Within the context of the debate over teleanalysis, I wish to reintroduce the discussion of voice as the primary link between analyst and patient, a link present in analysis on the phone. Far from questioning the importance of the in-person analysis, I aim to emphasize the voice, the musical semiotics of emotions, as a critical, if not the most vital, aspect of psychoanalysis as a "talking cure" and an art of listening. Insofar as the speaking is instituted in the body, the body is present through voice, even in the virtual analytic room in teleanalysis. I argue that the need for the presence of the material bodies in the session is one aspect of the analytic rituals that, along with the room, the couch, and other power objects, set the stage for the continuous projection of the role identities of the analytic couple. In teleanalysis, the seductive nature of the analytic situation and the status differential are more salient in the analyst's office turf than in the patient's room.
The psychoanalytic journey and the psilocybin journey both reveal unconscious dynamics. In this article a psychoanalyst discusses his own psilocybin journey. Similarities and differences between these journeys are discus...The psychoanalytic journey and the psilocybin journey both reveal unconscious dynamics. In this article a psychoanalyst discusses his own psilocybin journey. Similarities and differences between these journeys are discussed. Possibilities are offered for a dialogue in which psilocybin may contribute to psychoanalytic understanding and psychoanalysis may contribute to the understanding of psychedelic sessions. Patients may benefit from this cross-fertilization.
In this article we seek to examine what we might learn about the therapist/psychoanalyst's function as selfobject by examining the relationship between the "vocal persona" and the "instrumental persona" in the art song....In this article we seek to examine what we might learn about the therapist/psychoanalyst's function as selfobject by examining the relationship between the "vocal persona" and the "instrumental persona" in the art song. The comparison was born out of our own life partnership as a therapist, currently studying in a psychoanalytic-Buddhist training program that stresses the presence of the therapist/psychoanalyst as selfobject; and a collaborative pianist who instructs and performs with singers onstage. The concept of selfobject has offered a compelling and fruitful analogy. We explain and demonstrate this analogy using the terms selfobject and instrumental persona, which have in common the willingness to suspend selfhood in order to stand by another- a patient or a vocal persona- so that the latter might take root and flourish.
The author seeks to explore the development and treatment of dissociative symptoms emerging in a 17-year-old nonbinary individual throughout two inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations. The patient endorsed the presence o...The author seeks to explore the development and treatment of dissociative symptoms emerging in a 17-year-old nonbinary individual throughout two inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations. The patient endorsed the presence of multiple selves that remained connected with reality and internally with each other, emphasizing their existence in spatial allocations within the patient's mind both while dreaming and in waking life. The author highlights the therapeutic space as an opportunity to allow the interaction between dissociated selves surging from violent childhood experiences in hopes of allowing the integration of the fragmented parts of the main self. The roles of dreamwork, creative expressions, and language will be highlighted as essential components that allowed symbolization for a bicultural, bilingual individual who recently immigrated to the United States. Treatment was conducted within the limitations and particularities of inpatient psychiatric treatment, restricting treatment to a preliminary phase of exploration and containment.
A research adventure on closeness and separateness in psychoanalysis is presented. The theme is explored through the author's daydreams evoked by clinical encounters. These are analyzed and metaphorically illustrated wit...A research adventure on closeness and separateness in psychoanalysis is presented. The theme is explored through the author's daydreams evoked by clinical encounters. These are analyzed and metaphorically illustrated with psychoanalytical theories in dialogue with Tove Jansson's Closeness is likened to "mother's house" and separateness to "midwinter." Vacillation between and balancing of "mother's house" and "midwinter" following the patient's and the dyad's unique needs are suggested as pivotal for psychic development and creativity. A conclusion is that the author's practice can be enhanced by letting the cool winds and the mysteries of "midwinter" in.
The author depicts, relying on several of Giorgio Agamben's philosophical concepts as well as a psychoanalytic developmental perspective, the origins and features of inoperative love and spaces, especially as they pertai...The author depicts, relying on several of Giorgio Agamben's philosophical concepts as well as a psychoanalytic developmental perspective, the origins and features of inoperative love and spaces, especially as they pertain to oppressive situations wherein social, political, and economic apparatuses undermine the psychosocial well-being of individuals, families, and communities. In addition, the author conceptualizes psychoanalytic therapy as an inoperative space wherein patients actualize their capacity for impotentiality and experience singularity and rapport.
On the basis of a previous reading (Olver, 2023) of Freud's work that reveals a bisexuality thesis, the author discusses several interrelated consequences of this thesis, including the nature of desire and primal unity,...On the basis of a previous reading (Olver, 2023) of Freud's work that reveals a bisexuality thesis, the author discusses several interrelated consequences of this thesis, including the nature of desire and primal unity, a restatement of shame, the semiotic model, and the emergence of society and the economy with reference to the ego and the superego. These consequences together encapsulate and describe the dialectic of the subject. The author shows how dialectic movement is arrested by various acts of nomination, most notably the nomination of heterosexuality in the forms of sexual reproduction and financial profit that become social and economic master values in modernity. Only by keeping the dialectic open can the subject do justice to its inherent and revolutionary bisexual nature, not in the sense of transgression but rather in pursuit of the nonnomination that is the permanent of a dialectic self.
Social media has profound impact on how we experience the world and interact with others. Rapidly advancing technology has created platforms that have become increasingly image-based and emotionally manipulative. Do the...Social media has profound impact on how we experience the world and interact with others. Rapidly advancing technology has created platforms that have become increasingly image-based and emotionally manipulative. Do the new patterns of communication change patients' mental processes? Is free association becoming more imagistic? Contemporary clinical settings invite new perspectives on the intersections between the social and individual realms, patients' modes of expression, and analysts' interpretations.
Bion's notion of the contact-barrier formulates a semipermeable membrane responsible for preserving the distinction between the conscious and the unconscious. However, the question of how a newly established contact-barr...Bion's notion of the contact-barrier formulates a semipermeable membrane responsible for preserving the distinction between the conscious and the unconscious. However, the question of how a newly established contact-barrier manifests itself in dreams remains unanswered. The author proposes that one such manifestation occurs when a patient sees themself asleep in a dream. A case of a severely traumatized woman who had difficulty thinking and being close to others is used to explore these clinical ideas. The author, in response to his reveries in a session, introduced a playful dream-like dialogue between a playwright and his reader. The nature of the communication, in functioning as a barrier, served to protect the patient from a tyrannizing reality: the therapist's sexuality. This intersubjective barrier helped the patient to contact dissociated and damaged parts of herself, and it also facilitated her ability to dream a sense of her own boundaries, femininity, and sexuality.
This article exemplifies Reik's use of surprise in his psychoanalytic technique. Reik maintained that analysts should allow themselves to be surprised at times by their response. Such a reaction can offer new possibiliti...This article exemplifies Reik's use of surprise in his psychoanalytic technique. Reik maintained that analysts should allow themselves to be surprised at times by their response. Such a reaction can offer new possibilities of deepening the treatment. An example is presented of such a nonstandard intervention that proved helpful in resolving the patient's difficulties with communicating.
The author focuses on bisexuality in a continued analysis of Freud's radical sexual theory. A close reading of texts from Freud's work, in particular "The Ego and the Id," demonstrates how Freud puts forward a bisexualit...The author focuses on bisexuality in a continued analysis of Freud's radical sexual theory. A close reading of texts from Freud's work, in particular "The Ego and the Id," demonstrates how Freud puts forward a bisexuality thesis in parallel and as an alternative to his thesis of the Oedipus complex. This bisexuality thesis is premised on the mechanism of object cathexis and identification by which the ego and superego are formed. The textual excavation is extended back to earlier material by Freud and other authors (Trigant Burrow, Isidor Sadger) to reveal the foundational bedrock of the bisexuality thesis in primary identification. This line of investigation boldly confirms not only Freud's view of the fundamental centrality of bisexuality to human sexuality but also its main consequence, which Freud himself implicitly recognizes, namely, the negation of the Oedipus complex. This argument has ramifications for the theory and clinical practice of psychoanalysis.
A central role of supervision is to help the supervisee develop the self-as-therapist by internalizing analytic theoretical convictions and clinical practices and creating an individualistic professional identity. Superv...A central role of supervision is to help the supervisee develop the self-as-therapist by internalizing analytic theoretical convictions and clinical practices and creating an individualistic professional identity. Supervisors can help this process by viewing some of the supervisees' narrated therapeutic impasses as manifestations of creative rebellion. This creative rebellion helps them exercise their freedom of choice and become who they are as therapists. The creative rebellion metaphor can sometimes explain disruptions to the therapeutic process without threatening the cohesion of the supervisee's professional self and the integrity of the supervisory process.
From a self-psychology perspective, the profound disruption of the will to exist physically and psychically in patients suffering from anorexia can be seen as a primary impairment of the selfobject's capacity to make spa...From a self-psychology perspective, the profound disruption of the will to exist physically and psychically in patients suffering from anorexia can be seen as a primary impairment of the selfobject's capacity to make space for them within itself. Kohut viewed the primary phase of the baby's existence in the mother's mind as its "virtual conception." On this foundation, the author uses the notion of "virtual selfobject" to understand the impaired will to exist in patients with anorexia and describes how the therapist may embrace a standpoint that creates a space-for-being for the patient, facilitating the reactivation of self needs in the transference. The notion of virtuality thus entails a future perspective, which ostensibly foretells or creates the potential future emergence of the patient's self. This conceptualization and its application are illustrated through a life-restoring therapy with a patient hospitalized with a life-threatening eating disorder.