International Journal of Psychoanalysis最新文献

Extracts from Shakespeare's Hamlet are used to show how obstacles to mourning may arise from the persistent demands of melancholic internal objects demanding repair and revenge. It is only with the development of symbolic function as a result of separateness between self and object that reparation becomes possible and ghosts are turned into ancestors.

The sudden appearance of the term "desexualization" in The Ego and the Id is considered as a marker of the subtle, almost unnoticeable changes that occurred in Freud's thinking after 1920. The strict dichotomy between life and death drives posed a series of new problems that force Freud to invoke a "desexualized libido" in order to restore some fluidity in the psychic apparatus. But the mechanism of desexualization was difficult to describe and Freud seems to resort to a circular explanation. In the end, the restored dialectics between Eros and the death drive, thanks to desexualization, force Freud to invoke a split in the ego itself.

In this note I have limited myself to describing some convergent and divergent developments arising from the innovative concepts present in The Ego and the Id. It could be argued that a part of the psychoanalytic movement wished to emphasize the function of the Ego (Anna Freud, Hartmann, Rapaport), while another part (Melanie Klein and her followers) delved into the dynamics of the Superego and the Id in primitive and pathological states of mind. I will examine three themes presents in The Ego and the Id: the assertion that a part of the Ego is unconscious; the idea that the death drive becomes part of the dynamics of melancholia and its Superego; the concept of fusion and defusion of the life and death instinct. Freud's writing represents a forge of new ideas that have made psychoanalysis ever more creative and capable of understanding the complexity and mysteriousness of the human mind.

I explore some similarities between experiences of music and of analytic sessions. I focus on qualities of evanescence, the way that music - in contrast to many other arts - in one perspective only lasts as long as it is actually being played. Then it's over. The analyst-patient discussion in a session is similar. Yet the psychic reverberations of some transient, fugitive moments may last a lifetime. And even when no verbally profound understanding is occurring, nevertheless the patient-analyst encounter is emotionally significant. I illustrate this with a clinical example. I explore transference as illusion, and the relationship between truth and illusion in terms of Bion's O. I end with thoughts about the paradoxical value of the illusoriness of aesthetics and nature as considered by Freud in his short paper "On Transience" (1916), and the grin of Lewis Carol's Cheshire Cat, left hanging in the air.

Freud's publication of The Ego and the Id sparked a diverging set of psychoanalytic models - ego psychology, structural conflict theory, Kleinianism, object relations theories, Lacanianism, etc. - each of which attempted to deal with the clinical limitations of his first topography in regard to unconscious guilt, negative therapeutic reactions and primitive character organizations. This paper attempts to look back on these developments from the perspective of contemporary, post-Freudian psychoanalytic theories.

Identity is a paradoxical expression for psychoanalysis because importance is placed on 'becoming', the decentring of subjectivity and the avoidance of rigid identifications. There is no settled understanding of metapsychological terms and practices or the relationship between theory and practice. The development of psychoanalysis in Asia creates wonderment and anxiety for both Western and Eastern psychoanalysts. Western psychoanalysts are concerned about the threat to Western ideals and sensibilities to define psychoanalytic identity. Eastern psychoanalysts question whether there can be sufficient space for the conception of Eastern subjectivity within a Western psychoanalysis or it represents a repetition of colonial othering. I suggest that there is a thread of identity that rests on the psychoanalytic attitude and state of mind. A state of mind is associated with Bion's idea of passion and Kristeva's notion of reliance. Chetrit-Vatine has extended these ideas to emphasise the importance of the psychoanalyst's receptive and ethical state of mind.

In an age when our survival as a profession is less threatened but our growth increasingly depends upon our ability to apply our theories and techniques away from the couch, it has become important to understand how our organizational life relies on competing roles and different demands. That can be confusing for those of us who understand conflict primarily in the dyadic relationships of traditional psychoanalysis. Roles and collaboration, essential to work in organizations, require a greater acceptance of differences. Moreover, it requires a better understanding that our motives often stem from the tasks assigned in organizations and those tasks require collaboration rather than confrontation. A better understanding of these tensions and conflicts, endemic to organizational life, will enhance our ability to apply our insights outside our consultation rooms. And it offers, as well, the opportunity to work more effectively together on our professional organizations and associations, avoiding the bitter controversies that continue to bedevil our organizational life.