Pub Date : 2023-11-14DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2278775
John Hanwell Riker
ABSTRACTIn this paper I show that the “narcissistic libido’ out of which the self emerges is best conceived as de-sexualized eros, for this is the kind of energy that can love ideals, love ourselves (self-esteem), and love connecting with others (selfobjects). I draw upon Plato and the late Freud to amplify how seeing the self’s energy as eros allows us to understand the self as daimonic, aesthetic, and developmental—a striving to attain evermore complex versions of itself. Eros is also an “experience-near” way to conceive of the self’s energy, as we immediately know when we are feeling intensely erotic about an activity, another person, a work of art, etc. I will further show how eros can be transformed into sexualization and narcissistic rage when the self is traumatized, thereby explaining why selves have these two kinds of by-products when traumatically injured. Conceiving of the self’s energy as eros gives us an important way to come to know our selves: we are what we love.KEYWORDS: ErosKohutnarcissismPlatoself psychologysexualization Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Quoted by Lear (Citation2005, p. 196). Note that while Freud adopts Plato’s notion of eros as longing to unite with wider forms of connectedness and its seeking of harmony, he does not follow Plato into his mystical realms. That is, he does not think that eros is only fully satisfied when united with the eternal, ethereal form of Beauty.2 See Jane Ellen Harrison’s Themis (Citation1912/2010) for an account of who the daimones were in ancient Greek ritual practices that existed before the invention of the polis.3 For a full development of this Freud/Kohut comparison, see Riker (Citation2017), ch. 4.4 Plotinus in the Hellenistic Age and Ficino in the Florentine Renaissance were two philosophers for whom the Symposium was crucial, and both these philosophers deeply influenced their ages and subsequent epochs.5 Also see chapter 6 of Strozier, et. al.’s The New World of Self.6 Eros has a number of doppelgängers, including infatuation and mania. See Ch. 5 of Riker’s Exploring the Life of the Soul for an exploration of these erotic look-alikes.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJohn Hanwell RikerJohn H. Riker has been a professor of philosophy at Colorado College since 1968 and been named Professor of the Year a record four times. He has published four books intersecting psychoanalysis and ethics, most recently, Exploring the Life of the Soul: Philosophical Reflections on Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology. He was the Kohut Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago in 2003. He has recently been appointed co-editor in chief of Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context.
{"title":"The self as erotic striving","authors":"John Hanwell Riker","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2278775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2278775","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTIn this paper I show that the “narcissistic libido’ out of which the self emerges is best conceived as de-sexualized eros, for this is the kind of energy that can love ideals, love ourselves (self-esteem), and love connecting with others (selfobjects). I draw upon Plato and the late Freud to amplify how seeing the self’s energy as eros allows us to understand the self as daimonic, aesthetic, and developmental—a striving to attain evermore complex versions of itself. Eros is also an “experience-near” way to conceive of the self’s energy, as we immediately know when we are feeling intensely erotic about an activity, another person, a work of art, etc. I will further show how eros can be transformed into sexualization and narcissistic rage when the self is traumatized, thereby explaining why selves have these two kinds of by-products when traumatically injured. Conceiving of the self’s energy as eros gives us an important way to come to know our selves: we are what we love.KEYWORDS: ErosKohutnarcissismPlatoself psychologysexualization Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Quoted by Lear (Citation2005, p. 196). Note that while Freud adopts Plato’s notion of eros as longing to unite with wider forms of connectedness and its seeking of harmony, he does not follow Plato into his mystical realms. That is, he does not think that eros is only fully satisfied when united with the eternal, ethereal form of Beauty.2 See Jane Ellen Harrison’s Themis (Citation1912/2010) for an account of who the daimones were in ancient Greek ritual practices that existed before the invention of the polis.3 For a full development of this Freud/Kohut comparison, see Riker (Citation2017), ch. 4.4 Plotinus in the Hellenistic Age and Ficino in the Florentine Renaissance were two philosophers for whom the Symposium was crucial, and both these philosophers deeply influenced their ages and subsequent epochs.5 Also see chapter 6 of Strozier, et. al.’s The New World of Self.6 Eros has a number of doppelgängers, including infatuation and mania. See Ch. 5 of Riker’s Exploring the Life of the Soul for an exploration of these erotic look-alikes.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJohn Hanwell RikerJohn H. Riker has been a professor of philosophy at Colorado College since 1968 and been named Professor of the Year a record four times. He has published four books intersecting psychoanalysis and ethics, most recently, Exploring the Life of the Soul: Philosophical Reflections on Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology. He was the Kohut Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago in 2003. He has recently been appointed co-editor in chief of Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"63 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134901035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-06DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2269234
Amanda Kottler
ABSTRACTThis paper is interested in the hidden selves that hover silently in the spaces that all human relationships create. It asks how these hidden self-states can find the light of day and suggests that one way is through fictional creative writing. The author shares a piece of fictional writing in which an elusive character—Isobel—appears. This ethereal and fictional manifestation occurs in the context of excruciatingly painful relational experiences in which the narrator describes repetitive and painful struggles for transformation. Speculative attempts to understand the meaning of the fictional material reveal an emerging forward edge and a fledgling sense of agency. But more. It elaborates how the creative writing process offers a different kind of lens through which to locate, elaborate, see, experience and be empathic with our own and, by extension, with our patients’ hidden self-states.KEYWORDS: Agencyalter-ego selfobject experiencefictional creative writingforward edgehidden self states AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing groups whose presence and comments—editorial and otherwise helped this piece of writing: Sarah Mendelsohn, Heather Ferguson, Jan Chess, Dan Perlitz, Margy Sperry, Chole Thata and Carolyn Hart. Suzi Naiburg did all this and more.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The experience involves a dialogue between different facets within a person, and between people, and emerges in the “traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other” (Togashi & Kottler, Citation2021, p. 187).2 This entire process could be understood as an experience-near real time demonstration of the alter-ego aspect of an experience of being human with other human. It involves a dialogue between different facets within myself and between me and you, the reader, which has emerged in the “traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other” (Togashi & Kottler, Citation2021).Additional informationNotes on contributorsAmanda KottlerAmanda Kottler, M.A. (Clin. Psych.) is a clinical psychologist practicing as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a founding and faculty member of the Cape Town Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Group and an Emeritus Council Member of the International Association of Self Psychology. She lectures at the University of Cape Town. Her academic interests are in the areas of similarities and difference and how this intersects with a sense of feeling at home and belonging – feeling human among other human beings. She has co-edited two previous books: New Developments in Self Psychology Practice by Peter Buirski and Amanda Kottler. Jason Aronson 2007, and Culture, Power and Difference: Discourse Analysis in South Africa by Ann Levett, Amanda Kottler, Erica Burman and Ian Parker. Zed Books 1997 and is a co-author of Kohut’s Twinship across Culture
{"title":"Hide and seek: Writing fiction as a way of finding hidden selves","authors":"Amanda Kottler","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2269234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2269234","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis paper is interested in the hidden selves that hover silently in the spaces that all human relationships create. It asks how these hidden self-states can find the light of day and suggests that one way is through fictional creative writing. The author shares a piece of fictional writing in which an elusive character—Isobel—appears. This ethereal and fictional manifestation occurs in the context of excruciatingly painful relational experiences in which the narrator describes repetitive and painful struggles for transformation. Speculative attempts to understand the meaning of the fictional material reveal an emerging forward edge and a fledgling sense of agency. But more. It elaborates how the creative writing process offers a different kind of lens through which to locate, elaborate, see, experience and be empathic with our own and, by extension, with our patients’ hidden self-states.KEYWORDS: Agencyalter-ego selfobject experiencefictional creative writingforward edgehidden self states AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing groups whose presence and comments—editorial and otherwise helped this piece of writing: Sarah Mendelsohn, Heather Ferguson, Jan Chess, Dan Perlitz, Margy Sperry, Chole Thata and Carolyn Hart. Suzi Naiburg did all this and more.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The experience involves a dialogue between different facets within a person, and between people, and emerges in the “traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other” (Togashi & Kottler, Citation2021, p. 187).2 This entire process could be understood as an experience-near real time demonstration of the alter-ego aspect of an experience of being human with other human. It involves a dialogue between different facets within myself and between me and you, the reader, which has emerged in the “traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other” (Togashi & Kottler, Citation2021).Additional informationNotes on contributorsAmanda KottlerAmanda Kottler, M.A. (Clin. Psych.) is a clinical psychologist practicing as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a founding and faculty member of the Cape Town Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Group and an Emeritus Council Member of the International Association of Self Psychology. She lectures at the University of Cape Town. Her academic interests are in the areas of similarities and difference and how this intersects with a sense of feeling at home and belonging – feeling human among other human beings. She has co-edited two previous books: New Developments in Self Psychology Practice by Peter Buirski and Amanda Kottler. Jason Aronson 2007, and Culture, Power and Difference: Discourse Analysis in South Africa by Ann Levett, Amanda Kottler, Erica Burman and Ian Parker. Zed Books 1997 and is a co-author of Kohut’s Twinship across Culture","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135679755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2266486
Jonathan Blazon Yee
{"title":"Masked resonance: Asian/American enactment in a time of global uncertainty","authors":"Jonathan Blazon Yee","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2266486","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2266486","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135855419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2267620
Arthur Nielsen
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsArthur NielsenArthur Nielsen, MD is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; and a faculty member at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and at The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where he is Associate Director of the Integrative Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Training Program. He can be contacted at www.arthurnielsenmd.com or at arthur@arthurnielsenmd.com.
{"title":"Integrative couple therapy in action: A practical guide for handling common relationship problems and crises <b>Integrative couple therapy in action: A practical guide for handling common relationship problems and crises</b> , by Arthur Nielsen, New York, Routledge, 2022, 284 pp., $159.98 (hardcover); $34.60 (paperback); $31.78 (ebook), ISBN: 9781032272160 (hbk); ISBN: 9781032272177 (pbk); ISBN: 978100329184 (ebk)","authors":"Arthur Nielsen","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2267620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2267620","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsArthur NielsenArthur Nielsen, MD is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; and a faculty member at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and at The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where he is Associate Director of the Integrative Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Training Program. He can be contacted at www.arthurnielsenmd.com or at arthur@arthurnielsenmd.com.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135854572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2266711
Jill Gardner
ABSTRACTThe role of empathic understanding and responsiveness is central to therapies anchored in self psychology and intersubjectivity theory. The process of achieving and communicating empathic understanding, however, is complex and multiply determined. Understanding on a theoretical level the rationale for employing an empathic mode of observation and response does not necessarily mean that one knows how to do so effectively. To help bridge this gap between theory and practice, the author offers a series of concrete, experience-near suggestions or principles for enhancing empathic understanding and responsiveness. Starting with Kohut, several writers have stated their belief that empathic resonance is a skill that can be developed through training and learning. The author references these previous efforts and adds to them here by defining several choice points and subtleties of how we respond that can make empathic communication more effective. These suggestions emerged from the process of training and supervising mental health professionals in all disciplines and thus are presented as a resource not only for clinicians, but also for teachers and supervisors.KEYWORDS: Empathic communicationforward edgeorganizing principlessubjective experienceteaching empathysupervision Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 More detailed reports of the use of self psychology theory in short term treatment can be found in Gardner (Citation1991, Citation1999).2 Descriptions of additional procedures by which other authors have described how non-verbal, bodily sensation and posture can facilitate empathic understanding and communication can be found in the work of Brothers and Sletvold (Citation2022, Citation2023) and Nebbiosi and Federici (Citation2022).3 At the time Miller’s article was published, homosexuality was still considered pathological and was included as a diagnosis in the DSM. There has been considerable criticism of Miller’s understanding and treatment of homosexuality from our contemporary perspective. Nevertheless, I believe that much of his article remains valuable for its informative examples of how Kohut understood the concept of responding to the forward edge. For a contemporary perspective on the homoerotic aspects of Jule Miller’s case, see Janna Sandmeyer (Citation2019).4 An extended discussion of this case can be found in Gardner (Citation2020).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJill GardnerJill Gardner, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Chicago, Illinois. She has served on the Post-graduate Education Faculties of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. She is a member of the International Council of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and an Associate Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context.
{"title":"“Forms and transformations of empathy: Subtleties and complexities of empathic communication”","authors":"Jill Gardner","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2266711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2266711","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe role of empathic understanding and responsiveness is central to therapies anchored in self psychology and intersubjectivity theory. The process of achieving and communicating empathic understanding, however, is complex and multiply determined. Understanding on a theoretical level the rationale for employing an empathic mode of observation and response does not necessarily mean that one knows how to do so effectively. To help bridge this gap between theory and practice, the author offers a series of concrete, experience-near suggestions or principles for enhancing empathic understanding and responsiveness. Starting with Kohut, several writers have stated their belief that empathic resonance is a skill that can be developed through training and learning. The author references these previous efforts and adds to them here by defining several choice points and subtleties of how we respond that can make empathic communication more effective. These suggestions emerged from the process of training and supervising mental health professionals in all disciplines and thus are presented as a resource not only for clinicians, but also for teachers and supervisors.KEYWORDS: Empathic communicationforward edgeorganizing principlessubjective experienceteaching empathysupervision Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 More detailed reports of the use of self psychology theory in short term treatment can be found in Gardner (Citation1991, Citation1999).2 Descriptions of additional procedures by which other authors have described how non-verbal, bodily sensation and posture can facilitate empathic understanding and communication can be found in the work of Brothers and Sletvold (Citation2022, Citation2023) and Nebbiosi and Federici (Citation2022).3 At the time Miller’s article was published, homosexuality was still considered pathological and was included as a diagnosis in the DSM. There has been considerable criticism of Miller’s understanding and treatment of homosexuality from our contemporary perspective. Nevertheless, I believe that much of his article remains valuable for its informative examples of how Kohut understood the concept of responding to the forward edge. For a contemporary perspective on the homoerotic aspects of Jule Miller’s case, see Janna Sandmeyer (Citation2019).4 An extended discussion of this case can be found in Gardner (Citation2020).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJill GardnerJill Gardner, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Chicago, Illinois. She has served on the Post-graduate Education Faculties of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. She is a member of the International Council of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and an Associate Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135142204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2247447
Steven Stern
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSteven SternSteven Stern is a faculty member, teacher and supervisor at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (NYC), and is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a former member of the International Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and serves on the editorial board of Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context. He has been a frequent contributor to the contemporary psychoanalytic literature, with a particular interest in theoretical integration. His book, Needed Relationships and Psychoanalytic Healing: A Holistic Relational Perspective on the Therapeutic Process was published by Routledge in 2017 in the “Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Series.” A second book, Airless Worlds and the Restoration of Psychic Breathing is in preparation, also for publication by Routledge. Dr. Stern practices in Portland, ME with specializations in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, couples therapy, clinical supervision and consultation.
{"title":"Illuminating the moon: Discussion of Alyson Kepple’s “Exploring, claiming and expanding the frontiers of an emerging self”","authors":"Steven Stern","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2247447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2247447","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSteven SternSteven Stern is a faculty member, teacher and supervisor at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (NYC), and is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a former member of the International Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and serves on the editorial board of Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context. He has been a frequent contributor to the contemporary psychoanalytic literature, with a particular interest in theoretical integration. His book, Needed Relationships and Psychoanalytic Healing: A Holistic Relational Perspective on the Therapeutic Process was published by Routledge in 2017 in the “Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Series.” A second book, Airless Worlds and the Restoration of Psychic Breathing is in preparation, also for publication by Routledge. Dr. Stern practices in Portland, ME with specializations in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, couples therapy, clinical supervision and consultation.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135895115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2212711
Alyson Kepple
ABSTRACTThe author discusses her evolving understanding of the growth and transformation she is witnessing in her work with one analytic patient, a young, white, cis-gendered woman with a history of profound neglect and relational trauma, a life-long struggle with severe anxiety, OCD and somatic symptoms. Steve Stern’s concept of “airless worlds” and what he refers to as a process of “re-subjectification” inform the author’s conceptualization of the therapeutic processes taking place in this treatment. The author presents clinical material, applying these and related ideas to demonstrate how she and her patient have worked together to recognize the toxic and negating identificatory structures and processes Stern refers to, appreciate these in their historical context, and being to transform some of them. This process has allowed the author and her patient to begin to illuminate the contours of her patient’s emerging subjectivity as her patient learns to explore and lay claim to a self that extends beyond the borders of familiar territory inhabited by early toxic and negating identifications.KEYWORDS: Airless worldsdeconstructionidentificationre-subjectificationself Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsAlyson KeppleAlyson Kepple earned her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed her psychiatry residency at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh where she served as Chief Resident for Psychotherapy Training supervising and teaching psychiatry residents and medical students. She is graduating in June of this year from her psychoanalytic training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ICP+P) in Washington, DC and is a recipient of the 2021 Early Career Professional Award presented by The International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP). She maintains a private practice focusing on psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis treating patients in Virginia and Pennsylvania. She volunteers teaching and supervising psychiatry residents at the University of Pittsburgh and is on the faculty of the Western Pennsylvania Community for Psychoanalytic Therapies, serving on the curriculum committee and teaching for the psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program.
{"title":"Exploring, claiming and expanding the frontiers of an emerging self","authors":"Alyson Kepple","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2212711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2212711","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe author discusses her evolving understanding of the growth and transformation she is witnessing in her work with one analytic patient, a young, white, cis-gendered woman with a history of profound neglect and relational trauma, a life-long struggle with severe anxiety, OCD and somatic symptoms. Steve Stern’s concept of “airless worlds” and what he refers to as a process of “re-subjectification” inform the author’s conceptualization of the therapeutic processes taking place in this treatment. The author presents clinical material, applying these and related ideas to demonstrate how she and her patient have worked together to recognize the toxic and negating identificatory structures and processes Stern refers to, appreciate these in their historical context, and being to transform some of them. This process has allowed the author and her patient to begin to illuminate the contours of her patient’s emerging subjectivity as her patient learns to explore and lay claim to a self that extends beyond the borders of familiar territory inhabited by early toxic and negating identifications.KEYWORDS: Airless worldsdeconstructionidentificationre-subjectificationself Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsAlyson KeppleAlyson Kepple earned her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed her psychiatry residency at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh where she served as Chief Resident for Psychotherapy Training supervising and teaching psychiatry residents and medical students. She is graduating in June of this year from her psychoanalytic training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ICP+P) in Washington, DC and is a recipient of the 2021 Early Career Professional Award presented by The International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP). She maintains a private practice focusing on psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis treating patients in Virginia and Pennsylvania. She volunteers teaching and supervising psychiatry residents at the University of Pittsburgh and is on the faculty of the Western Pennsylvania Community for Psychoanalytic Therapies, serving on the curriculum committee and teaching for the psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135790328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2249046
Gabriela Mann
ABSTRACTHeather MacIntosh’s emotionally moving paper describes an intense relation with a patient at a time when Heather herself was traumatized. This analyst-patient relationship inspired Heather to make essential changes in her lifestyle. These changes were curative for both the analyst and the patient. The discussion highlights three main issues. The first is leaps from the analytic frame, Different forms of leaps, starting with those defined by Freud and continuing with current analysts, demonstrate various modifications of the frame. The second issue is the question of who is responsible for the transformation of trauma. When the analyst remains faithful to her ideals, she can be inspired by a vast range of idealized selfobjects, human and nonhuman. The perception of an idealized selfobject is neither dependent on external conditions nor on actual actions. The patient can then expand her mind in a similar way. The third issue focuses on the expansion of the scope of selfobject experiences in times of turbulence and stress. We may consider that in such times the mind can be inspired by the selfobject function of nature, art, imagination and virtual possibilities. In our times, universality and interconnectedness fulfill a major role in informing our lives. Our minds are constituted by a global ecology that shapes our subjectivity.KEYWORDS: Countertransferencecovidexpansion of the mindidealized nonhuman selfobjectsleaps from frame Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 First page of a letter from Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung during his holiday to Italy with Ferenczi, 24 September 1910. Image credit: Library of Congress.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGabriela MannGabriela Mann, Ph.D., Training and supervising Psychoanalyst, past President of the Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Past Chairperson, Post-graduate Program ‘Self Psychology and Therapeutic Presence’, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University. Faculty, Human Spirit, Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program: Israel Association for Self-Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity. Author of “Seeing Beyond Blindness – on the Expansion of the Mind” (2022), published in Resling, Tel Aviv. The book will be published in English by Routledge. Issue Editor of Beyond the Consulting Room- Psychoanalysis Within the Social Sphere in Israel (2020), Psychoanalytic Inquiry.
麦金塔瑟(Heather MacIntosh)的这篇感人的论文描述了她与一位病人之间的亲密关系,当时她自己也受到了创伤。这种分析与病人的关系促使希瑟对自己的生活方式做出了重大改变。这些变化对分析师和患者都有治疗作用。讨论突出了三个主要问题。第一个是从分析框架的跳跃,不同形式的跳跃,从弗洛伊德的定义开始,继续到现在的分析,展示了框架的各种修改。第二个问题是谁应该为创伤的转变负责。当分析者对自己的理想保持忠诚时,她可以从大量理想化的自我对象中获得灵感,包括人类和非人类。对理想化的自我客体的感知既不依赖于外部条件,也不依赖于实际行动。然后病人可以用类似的方式扩展她的思维。第三个问题侧重于在动荡和压力时期自我客体体验范围的扩展。我们可以认为,在这样的时代,心灵可以受到自然、艺术、想象和虚拟可能性的自我客体功能的启发。在我们这个时代,普遍性和互联性在我们的生活中发挥着重要作用。我们的思想是由塑造我们主体性的全球生态构成的。关键词:反移情,心智化的非人类自我客体的扩展,从框架中睡眠披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。注1 1910年9月24日,西格蒙德·弗洛伊德写给卡尔·荣格的信的第一页,当时荣格和费伦齐在意大利度假。图片来源:美国国会图书馆。作者简介:gabriela Mann gabriela Mann博士,培训和监督精神分析学家,特拉维夫当代精神分析研究所前任主席。特拉维夫大学萨克勒医学院研究生课程“自我心理学和治疗存在”前任主席。教员,人类精神,精神分析-佛教训练计划:以色列自我心理学和主体性研究协会。《超越盲目性——论心灵的拓展》(2022)的作者,在特拉维夫的雷斯林出版。这本书的英文版将由劳特利奇出版社出版。问题编辑超越咨询室-精神分析在以色列的社会领域(2020),精神分析调查。
{"title":"Courageous leaps: Discussion of Heather MacIntosh’s paper “Practicing in a time of covid loss and threat”","authors":"Gabriela Mann","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2249046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2249046","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTHeather MacIntosh’s emotionally moving paper describes an intense relation with a patient at a time when Heather herself was traumatized. This analyst-patient relationship inspired Heather to make essential changes in her lifestyle. These changes were curative for both the analyst and the patient. The discussion highlights three main issues. The first is leaps from the analytic frame, Different forms of leaps, starting with those defined by Freud and continuing with current analysts, demonstrate various modifications of the frame. The second issue is the question of who is responsible for the transformation of trauma. When the analyst remains faithful to her ideals, she can be inspired by a vast range of idealized selfobjects, human and nonhuman. The perception of an idealized selfobject is neither dependent on external conditions nor on actual actions. The patient can then expand her mind in a similar way. The third issue focuses on the expansion of the scope of selfobject experiences in times of turbulence and stress. We may consider that in such times the mind can be inspired by the selfobject function of nature, art, imagination and virtual possibilities. In our times, universality and interconnectedness fulfill a major role in informing our lives. Our minds are constituted by a global ecology that shapes our subjectivity.KEYWORDS: Countertransferencecovidexpansion of the mindidealized nonhuman selfobjectsleaps from frame Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 First page of a letter from Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung during his holiday to Italy with Ferenczi, 24 September 1910. Image credit: Library of Congress.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGabriela MannGabriela Mann, Ph.D., Training and supervising Psychoanalyst, past President of the Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Past Chairperson, Post-graduate Program ‘Self Psychology and Therapeutic Presence’, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University. Faculty, Human Spirit, Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program: Israel Association for Self-Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity. Author of “Seeing Beyond Blindness – on the Expansion of the Mind” (2022), published in Resling, Tel Aviv. The book will be published in English by Routledge. Issue Editor of Beyond the Consulting Room- Psychoanalysis Within the Social Sphere in Israel (2020), Psychoanalytic Inquiry.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135829387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2247432
Steven H. Knoblauch
ABSTRACTIn this discussion I use the interaction between Dr. Davis (referred to as Scott) and his analysis and, Sue, to examine an implicit ideal that we all might hold, that is favoring the need to re-present experience in words as a way of helping patients. Often a worded response (as opposed to an embodied registration, a facial expression or verbal pause or accent, for example), can feel to those we work with as robbing them of the power of their efforts in treatment that we are witnessing and trying to recognize. The worded response can feel like a usurpation of agency serving the narcissistic needs of the analyst over those of the patient. Bollas has called this an “extractive introjection.” I explore moments in the clinical interaction where this might have occurred at the same time that Scott adroitly uses his and his patient’s embodied emotional registrations effectively.KEYWORDS: Embodimentenactmentextractive introjectionidealizationnarcissism Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSteven H. KnoblauchSteven H. Knoblauch, Ph.D. is Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis where he is also a Clinical Consultant. He is author of The Musical Edge of Therapeutic Dialogue (2000), Bodies and Social Rhythms: Navigating Unconscious Vulnerability and Emotional Fluidity (2021) and coauthor with Beebe, Rustin and Sorter of Forms of Intersubjectivity in Infant Research and Adult Treatment (2005).
在这个讨论中,我用戴维斯博士(被称为斯科特)和他的分析之间的互动,苏,来检验我们都可能持有的一种隐含的理想,即赞成用语言再现经验的需要,作为帮助病人的一种方式。通常,一个措辞上的回应(与具体的注册、面部表情或口头停顿或口音相反)会让我们的治疗对象觉得,我们正在目睹并试图识别他们在治疗中所付出的努力的力量被剥夺了。措词的回应让人感觉像是一种代理篡夺,服务于分析师的自恋需求,而不是患者的需求。Bollas称这种现象为“抽取性内注”。我探索了临床互动中可能发生这种情况的时刻,同时斯科特巧妙地有效地使用了他和他的病人的具体情感记录。关键词:具体化;提取性内敛;理想化;自恋披露声明作者未报告潜在利益冲突。steven H. Knoblauch博士是纽约大学心理治疗和精神分析博士后项目的临床兼职副教授,同时也是一名临床顾问。他是《治疗对话的音乐边缘》(2000年)、《身体和社会节奏:导航无意识脆弱性和情感流动性》(2021年)的作者,并与Beebe、Rustin和《婴儿研究和成人治疗中的主体间性形式分类》(2005年)合著。
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Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/24720038.2023.2213265
Denise R. Davis
ABSTRACTIn this case, presentation of a patient who experienced severe sexual abuse in childhood and attempted to manage his traumatic dreams and flashbacks with autoerotic asphyxiation, the author describes how she tolerated the anxiety of a life-threatening symptom while engaging in a deep and transformative treatment. She writes about her understanding of the symptoms, how she bore the accompanying anxiety, and what the mutative forces were that led to the patient relinquishing the symptom and progressing forward. Mutative factors included the creation of a relational home, ongoing awareness of forward edge meanings of the patient’s behaviors (including the potentially lethal symptom) and the establishment of deep mutual trust, both generally and specifically in the patient’s capacity to know what he needed in order to grow. These factors helped the patient integrate his sense of shame and self-loathing. The therapist’s deep trust in the patient’s sense of what he needed as she guided the treatment deepened the bond between them and created the paradoxical sense of both intensity and calm that the patient longed for. This paper details dreams that illustrate the nature of the therapeutic relationship and the patient’s internal experience. The therapist details her own experience in the co-transference in this highly charged case. Overall, this paper will help therapists to recognize, connect with, and protect traumatized patients, while not being distracted by the frightening symptoms themselves.KEYWORDS: Forward edgeheightened affective momentlethal symptomsrelational homesustained empathic immersiontrauma Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsDenise R. DavisDenise Davis, LCSW is in private practice where she treats children, adolescents, adults, and couples and supervises and facilitates study groups. She has been an instructor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration in the Advanced Psychodynamic Fellowship in Clinical Practice as well as the Institute for Clinical Social Work. She is a member of the Midwest Self Psychology Study Group and has presented at the Midwest Self Psychology Now seminars. Davis is the chairperson of IAPSP’s conferences and has been a discussant and moderator for IAPSP’s online journal clubs. She has published papers and book chapters on moments of meeting, boundaries, and empathic imagination.
{"title":"Transforming traumatic intensity: Living with the uncertainty of terrifying symptoms","authors":"Denise R. Davis","doi":"10.1080/24720038.2023.2213265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2213265","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTIn this case, presentation of a patient who experienced severe sexual abuse in childhood and attempted to manage his traumatic dreams and flashbacks with autoerotic asphyxiation, the author describes how she tolerated the anxiety of a life-threatening symptom while engaging in a deep and transformative treatment. She writes about her understanding of the symptoms, how she bore the accompanying anxiety, and what the mutative forces were that led to the patient relinquishing the symptom and progressing forward. Mutative factors included the creation of a relational home, ongoing awareness of forward edge meanings of the patient’s behaviors (including the potentially lethal symptom) and the establishment of deep mutual trust, both generally and specifically in the patient’s capacity to know what he needed in order to grow. These factors helped the patient integrate his sense of shame and self-loathing. The therapist’s deep trust in the patient’s sense of what he needed as she guided the treatment deepened the bond between them and created the paradoxical sense of both intensity and calm that the patient longed for. This paper details dreams that illustrate the nature of the therapeutic relationship and the patient’s internal experience. The therapist details her own experience in the co-transference in this highly charged case. Overall, this paper will help therapists to recognize, connect with, and protect traumatized patients, while not being distracted by the frightening symptoms themselves.KEYWORDS: Forward edgeheightened affective momentlethal symptomsrelational homesustained empathic immersiontrauma Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsDenise R. DavisDenise Davis, LCSW is in private practice where she treats children, adolescents, adults, and couples and supervises and facilitates study groups. She has been an instructor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration in the Advanced Psychodynamic Fellowship in Clinical Practice as well as the Institute for Clinical Social Work. She is a member of the Midwest Self Psychology Study Group and has presented at the Midwest Self Psychology Now seminars. Davis is the chairperson of IAPSP’s conferences and has been a discussant and moderator for IAPSP’s online journal clubs. She has published papers and book chapters on moments of meeting, boundaries, and empathic imagination.","PeriodicalId":42308,"journal":{"name":"Psychoanalysis Self and Context","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135895287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}