The author discusses Winnicott's theory (1949/1975) of the psyche-soma and Fairbairn's (1944) theory of internal object relations, bringing them together to enrich our perspective of one's somatization. By focusing on ho...The author discusses Winnicott's theory (1949/1975) of the psyche-soma and Fairbairn's (1944) theory of internal object relations, bringing them together to enrich our perspective of one's somatization. By focusing on how the patient takes care, attends, experiences, and feels toward the symptom, the analyst can better understand the patient's early object-relations. This allows analyst and patient to rethink the symptom in terms of the patient's early traumas and one's capacity to mourn the loss of the love-object. Fairbairn's conceptualizations of the "rejecting," "alluring," and "addictive" object-relations are combined with Winnicott's understanding of the split between psyche and soma, following the ill-adaptation of the mother to the baby's earliest emotional needs.
The author argues against neuropsychoanalysis by focusing on the metaphysical issues. Neuropsychoanalysts argue that the philosophical theories of dual aspect monism (DAM) and anomalous monism support their position. The...The author argues against neuropsychoanalysis by focusing on the metaphysical issues. Neuropsychoanalysts argue that the philosophical theories of dual aspect monism (DAM) and anomalous monism support their position. The author contends that not only do DAM and anomalous monism offer support for neuropsychoanalysis; they are also inconsistent with its claims. The conceptual distinction between the mental and the physical - the so-called "epistemological dualism" cited by neuropsychoanalysis-stands as an insurmountable barrier to the project of neuropsychoanalysis. By way of example, the author offers an analogy with artworks. The author concludes the paper by arguing that neuropsychoanalysis deflects from the real project of psychoanalysis, which is the study of persons, not so-called "mindbrains."
The unique conditions and characteristics of listening in psychoanalysis are introduced in relation to an effort to define how psychoanalysis proceeds "beyond psychotherapy." Using an example from Freud's self-analysis,...The unique conditions and characteristics of listening in psychoanalysis are introduced in relation to an effort to define how psychoanalysis proceeds "beyond psychotherapy." Using an example from Freud's self-analysis, the author explores the tenet that every psychoanalytic session is to be treated like a dream. Freud's prescriptions for the method of listening psychoanalytically are critically discussed and the idea of "listening-to-listen" is introduced, as contrasted with listening in order to hear, listening-to-understand or in order to interpret. It is argued that free-associative listening is distinctive as a processive momentum that deconstructively interrogates the practitioner's own mechanisms of suppression and repression. This process fosters an awareness of that which is otherwise than representation, that which cannot be captured within the purview of reflective consciousness. In this sense, healing is not only transformative, but also transmutative, and the psychoanalyst is one for whom nothing is alien and everything is strange.
On Tuesday, April 24, 1900, three days after Passover, Freud gave a talk at his B'nai B'rith lodge on Emile Zola's utopian novel penned in self-exile in London, (1899). The next day Freud wrote Wilhelm Fliess that the n...On Tuesday, April 24, 1900, three days after Passover, Freud gave a talk at his B'nai B'rith lodge on Emile Zola's utopian novel penned in self-exile in London, (1899). The next day Freud wrote Wilhelm Fliess that the night before the talk he had a dream in which "[t]he brethren … were unkind and scornful of me." In the dream his brethren's contempt signifies that Freud is making his impious move to destroy their Tree of Life: no Law, no Judaism, no Christianity, no miserable anti-Semitism. In Freud's utopia, an enlightened socially just world grounded in reason, which mirrors the brotherly atheistic utopia envisioned in , the seed of Abraham at long last can move across frontiers freely, develop their talents, and satisfy their needs.
In this paper, the author attempts to arrive at a comprehensive outline of Winnicott's developmental theory. This theory encompasses the infant's emergence from total dependence and subject/object merging to what the aut...In this paper, the author attempts to arrive at a comprehensive outline of Winnicott's developmental theory. This theory encompasses the infant's emergence from total dependence and subject/object merging to what the author refers to as relative independence and relative subject/object separation (in Winnicott's words, "separation that is a not a separation but a form of union" [1971a, p. 98]). This conceptualization is based mainly on an amalgam of Winnicott's two well-known papers, on transitional objects and phenomena (1953) and on the use of an object (1969). The author also refers to André Green's notions of the importance of the negative and of the "dead mother" in reference to Winnicott's work. To demonstrate the clinical implications of the paper, the author discusses in detail the case of Rosemary Dinnage, as described by both Winnicott and Green and as reported directly by herself.
This article traces the evolution of the concept of the leading edge in Kohut's work. The leading edge is defined as the growth-promoting dimension of the transference. The authors argue that although Kohut did not ever...This article traces the evolution of the concept of the leading edge in Kohut's work. The leading edge is defined as the growth-promoting dimension of the transference. The authors argue that although Kohut did not ever use the term explicitly in his writings-Marian Tolpin (2002), one of Kohut's gifted pupils, introduced the concept into the psychoanalytic literature in the form of the forward edge-the idea of the leading edge was already present in nascent form in Kohut's earliest papers and became ever more central as his psychology of the self evolved and the concept of the selfobject transference took center stage. Kohut, it is argued, could not fully develop the idea of working with the leading edge for fear of being accused of advocating for a corrective emotional experience in psychoanalytic treatment. However, in his posthumous empathy paper (1982) Kohut came as close as he could to endorsing the leading edge as pivotal in all psychoanalytic work.
The author seeks to articulate the philosophical significance of Heinz Kohut's original theory of the self by showing (a) how it explains the basis of our ability to create and be motivated by personal ideals; (b) how it...The author seeks to articulate the philosophical significance of Heinz Kohut's original theory of the self by showing (a) how it explains the basis of our ability to create and be motivated by personal ideals; (b) how it transforms our understanding of ethical life by showing why it is in one's self-interest to become an empathic, respectful person who embodies the moral virtues as articulated by Aristotle; and (c) how it reverberates with profound insights into what it means to be human by some of the most esteemed philosophers in the Western philosophic tradition, especially Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, and Nietzsche. The author concludes by critically responding to the intersubjectivist critique of Stolorow and Atwood that Kohut's notion of "self" is a reified, metaphysical concept.
A person's life and work, as recounted in a full-scale biography, is always a vibrant opportunity to touch the riddle's core, reflecting the sublime human yearning to see beyond the veil separating "I" from "other." This...A person's life and work, as recounted in a full-scale biography, is always a vibrant opportunity to touch the riddle's core, reflecting the sublime human yearning to see beyond the veil separating "I" from "other." This is especially true in respect to Heinz Kohut, the founding father of self psychology. Strozier's (2001) monumental biography is used for a philosophical and historical scrutiny of Kohut's quest for the Grand Unity embodied in the monistic principle of holistic totality. This vision of laying the foundations of a supra-personal dimension in which the personal and the interpersonal amalgamate into an entangled universe is advocated as the spiritual core of Kohut's oeuvre. The vertical split between One Person Psychology and Two Person Psychology is, thus, healed by Kohut's revolutionary role in creating, explicitly and implicitly, a new kind of ethics in psychoanalysis: the ethics of Oneness.
The authors explore Heinz Kohut's ideas of self, including its nuclear and virtual forms, in the critical period from the late 1960s to about 1975. Kohut's creative process, it is argued, has not been fully appreciated....The authors explore Heinz Kohut's ideas of self, including its nuclear and virtual forms, in the critical period from the late 1960s to about 1975. Kohut's creative process, it is argued, has not been fully appreciated. The authors establish the baseline of Kohut's ideas about the self in his first book, in 1971. His ideas then evolved significantly in the next few years, as he came to define the self as the center of psychological experience and then to consider what he came to call the nuclear self and the virtual self as extensions of his core ideas about the self-selfobject system. The authors trace the specific sequence of conceptual steps that Kohut took in his reexamination of what he meant by self. Kohut's thinking in this area proceeded unevenly and not always chronologically. His pathbreaking work in the early 1970s on fragmentation, on the cohesion and continuity of the self, and on the mutable nature of the nuclear self and the virtual self represents a seminal development in the understanding of these psychoanalytic concepts.
This paper elaborates on the implications of Heinz Kohut's radical revision of the concepts of introspection and empathy for psychoanalytic practice and therapeutics. I focus on three of Kohut's papers: "Introspection, E...This paper elaborates on the implications of Heinz Kohut's radical revision of the concepts of introspection and empathy for psychoanalytic practice and therapeutics. I focus on three of Kohut's papers: "Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis," published in 1959, and its follow-up, "On Empathy", and "Introspection, Empathy, and the Semi-Circle of Mental Health," both published in 1981. Specifically, I address the importance of the analysand's introspective capacity as an active element in the therapeutic process augmented by the empathy of the analyst in the form of understanding and interpretation. Analysands enter psychoanalysis because they are aware that they cannot solve the problems with which they suffer or access the selfobject milieu that would help them. Through analysis patients' capacity for introspection and action is broadened and deepened, allowing them to understand and deal creatively with their problems, particularly their inability to fulfill the potential of their self.
The authors discuss the psychoanalytic treatment of Little Hans, drawing on the perspective offered by Laplanche's concept of "enigmatic messages," which they believe can contribute to a better understanding of this case...The authors discuss the psychoanalytic treatment of Little Hans, drawing on the perspective offered by Laplanche's concept of "enigmatic messages," which they believe can contribute to a better understanding of this case history. They conclude that Little Hans's positive Oedipus complex conceals his negative Oedipus complex in which he represents his parents' oedipal problems in a distorted fashion. They demonstrate the way his parents project aspects of these problems into Hans's psyche, where his subsequent identifications with them lead to substitutive formations. They trace the course of Little Hans's horse phobia and examine his search for substitutive formations that have to align with his parents' defenses if they are to succeed in securing his safety and their affection.
Etty (Esther) Hillesum was a young Jewish Dutch woman who kept a diary throughout the entire period of the Holocaust, until she met her own death in Auschwitz. The diary, written in the hellish environment of the Nazi oc...Etty (Esther) Hillesum was a young Jewish Dutch woman who kept a diary throughout the entire period of the Holocaust, until she met her own death in Auschwitz. The diary, written in the hellish environment of the Nazi occupation of Holland, provides us with an opportunity to explore the transformational power manifested in the mutual witnessing that takes place between the writer and the reader. The author reviews three aspects of the writer's testimony, each one of which embodies a unique reparative function: testifying the events, testifying evidence, and testifying the reader.
The author explores the notion of representation and trauma, taking into account their negative manifestation in the mind, as memories without representation. In the face of massive trauma, the mind deploys dissociative...The author explores the notion of representation and trauma, taking into account their negative manifestation in the mind, as memories without representation. In the face of massive trauma, the mind deploys dissociative mechanisms, so the experience remains unrepresented. Psychoanalytic technique has to expand its scope in order to meet-create these unrepresented forms. Alongside our classic technique, the analyst needs to work in a particular way-one that involves a regressive state to preverbal, or even prerepresentational areas within the analyst, allowing him or her to gain access to the traumatic zones. The integration of the trauma into the systems of representations depends on the possibility of the analyst to submit to a process of regression so as to offer a substrate on which hitherto unformed experience may assume form and become represented.
The potential for psychological transformation is fundamental to psychoanalytic theory and therapy and to Jewish belief and practice. While Freud's rejection of religious experience as a manifestation of personal and cul...The potential for psychological transformation is fundamental to psychoanalytic theory and therapy and to Jewish belief and practice. While Freud's rejection of religious experience as a manifestation of personal and cultural pathology had a long-reaching effect in the history of psychoanalysis, the theoretical extensions and advances of some of his followers have made it possible to view religious experience through a different lens. The author explores the convergence of Jewish ideas about the process of repentance () and the integration of psychic polarities conceptualized in the psychoanalytic literature, namely, love and hate in the shift from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position (Klein) and separation and reunion in the establishment of the self and the development of sublimation (Loewald).
The author explores the idea of sovereignty as an illusion that is and will continue to have deleterious effects on cooperative efforts to slow or stop climate change and the extinction of millions of species. To make th...The author explores the idea of sovereignty as an illusion that is and will continue to have deleterious effects on cooperative efforts to slow or stop climate change and the extinction of millions of species. To make this case, the notion of sovereignty is defined and its attributes described. This lays the foundation for arguing, from a psychoanalytic perspective, that sovereignty is a tightly held illusion (and practice). The last section of the article identifies the negative present and future impact of sovereignty with regard to the Anthropocene Age, as well as briefly identifying other possibilities for ordering societies.
The author describes the evolution of theory and practice at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The core concepts at the Institute have included the importance of unconscious fantasy, conflict and comprom...The author describes the evolution of theory and practice at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The core concepts at the Institute have included the importance of unconscious fantasy, conflict and compromise theory, transference and countertransference, and defense analysis. In recent years, a variety of contemporary analytic theories have been incorporated into the theory and practice of the Institute. The importance of systematized research to theory development and practice is stressed.
The authors share their observations on the implications of concepts originated in object relations theory in art therapy students' and clinicians' identity development. Through the lens of object relations theory, stude...The authors share their observations on the implications of concepts originated in object relations theory in art therapy students' and clinicians' identity development. Through the lens of object relations theory, students considered how the personal informs the professional, as reflected in assemblage and artwork inspired by personal or found objects. Through their own creative expression, students learned how to apply object relations theory beyond its original formulation, and how their artwork acts as a transitional object between their personal history and professional individuation. The authors explore how creative expression may serve as a bridge between these two aspects of the self, thus facilitating an educated and creatively informed personal/professional integration in the process of clinical training and practice.