International Journal of Psychoanalysis最新文献

This paper explores the impact of homophobia, internalised homophobia and heteronormativity on the psychic lives of some gay men, as depicted in the film "All of Us Strangers". Themes of Oedipal rejection, alienation, melancholia, mourning and loss are explored.

In this key note, five ideas - framework are presented to address the subject: the traumatic origin of the Psyche, as a distant echo of the Big Bang; the brain, mind, psyche trilogy, of different origins, but inextricably linked (mind and psyche are not synonymous); the idea of an extensive psyche, noun, not adjective, working between people and things; the extension of the Freudian topics to a 3rd and 4th inter subjective topics, and even a 5th, if the psyche is intervened by the technology; and the heteronymy of the Ego, composed of various psychic persons. From there, a proto-organic narcissism develops that is a defence against disintegration and also a model of subsequent functioning, both in war and the attack on the planet´s climate. Other issues, such as the power of the leader, the submission of the people, the relationship between psychosis and normality (not health), the "reasons of state", and the ideology, are observed. An extensive psychoanalysis is proposed as a contribution to these painful issues.

The author posits that for an analytic treatment to be alive and effective, the analyst must invent psychoanalysis with each patient. In responding to the question, "What does it mean to invent psychoanalysis with each patient?" the analyst must first ask himself, "What does it mean to become a psychoanalyst?" and "What is it that defines psychoanalysis." Further, "What is distinctive about the practice of psychoanalysis?"In responding to these questions, it becomes apparent that what is definitive of psychoanalysis as a discipline and as a clinical practice are matters that each of us must come to on our own, and that the process of becoming a psychoanalyst is a highly personal endeavor that continues through one's years of practice.Becoming a psychoanalyst is not a distinction conferred by a psychoanalytic training program. Development of an analytic sensibility is built upon one's personal analysis, one's individual study of psychoanalysis, and one's clinical experience.The author presents clinical illustrations of some of the ways he, with each of his patients, invents a form of psychoanalysis unique to the two of them.

Music and war is a vast topic. This essay limits itself mainly to compositions of Western classical music written in response to World War II. I examine two masterpieces: A Ceremony of Carols (1942), by UK pacifist, Benjamin Britten, composed on a ship menaced by U-boats as he returned from voluntary exile to face the war; and the Quartet for the End of Time (1941), by the Frenchman, Olivier Messiaen, interned in a German prisoner-of-war camp, where 400 prisoners and German officers attended its premiere in freezing conditions. I refer also to Bion's wartime experiences.War is studied as a magnification of hatreds and rivalry within families, focusing on the biblical lament of David for the killing of his son Absalom, set to music in masterpieces down the centuries. Finally, Britten's War Requiem is explored, as a modern testament to the horrors of war, avoiding pomp and emphasising ambivalence and ambiguity.I consider these pieces from the perspective of Bion's theories of L, H, K and O, and suggest they bear out not only Winnicott's theory of transitional space but particularly Segal's theory of artistic creativity emanating from the depressive position with its depiction of a ruined world, which the music may attempt to begin to repair, particularly through the operation of musically aesthetic listening and containment, a notion which is developed in the paper.

The paper discusses countertransference issues when patients' anxieties about global warming appear in the psychoanalytic situation. Both analyst and analysand are affected, concretely and emotionally, by manifestations of climate change. It is argued that when a patient's climate anxieties surface in treatment, the analyst may end up in a peculiar countertransference. The analyst, whose task is to discern and address any anxieties in the patient, may simultaneously note climate anxieties in himself or herself. There may thus be two anxious people in the consulting room, and both may use unconscious defences against awareness of climate destruction. This may explain the observation that concerns about climate change seem rarely expressed - implicitly or explicitly - in the analytic situation. Alternatively, patients do express them, but the analyst does not discern them. The paper discusses the psychoanalyst's technique and stance when analysing climate anxieties in patients. This presupposes that the clinician analyses apathy and solastalgia in connection with his/her own anxieties, as well as his/her oscillating between hope and hopelessness about climate restitution. His/her capacity of enduring the pain of the depressive position will be put to the test.

Lacanian theory is dense and abstract, making it hard to discern how Lacanian analysts conduct treatment. This paper outlines basic Lacanian methods, doing so using the framework of therapeutic action-how analysis affects psychic changes as seen from a Lacanian perspective. Lacan was opposed to the clinical goal of heightening a patient's self-understanding. His clinical efforts focused more on essential knowledge (discovering "what is") as opposed to complex knowledge (explaining why "what is" is as it is). Two mutative clinical events are discussed: speaking the unspoken and movement from empty to full speech. Core Lacanian methods of bringing about such events include: "punctuation" (echoing noteworthy patient statements that contain more than the patient imagines), the use of oracular speech ("curve balls" that challenge a patient's core assumptions), and unplanned clinical moments when the analyst fails to live up to the patient's expectations (to be the one who is supposed to know). Basic Lacanian theory is outlined to gain a sense of what Lacanians see as the core human ailment: a sense of alienation and the endless search to satisfy desire that stems from one's core sense of lack-the sense of being perennially incomplete.

Based on her experience of working within two cultures, the author examines and explores how, in a Taiwanese context, one is encouraged to take on a different development route that emphasises maintaining identification with one's pre-Oedipal and Oedipal objects throughout one's life, in which separation and independence are discouraged and a familial-self is facilitated. This gives rise to a strong ego ideal that acquires a persecuting quality, and one could easily become prey to it. Clinical material is presented to illustrate this psychic situation, the plight it creates for the individual and how it manifests itself in the consultation room, turning the couch of understanding into a couch of paranoia.

Theory plays a crucial role in clinical choices, group formation, and organizational culture and politics. Theoretical positions seem based on reason and observation, but other motivations are often involved-belonging, recognition, and even concrete rewards, such as referrals and organizational positions. Established ideas can constrain new perspectives and observations that can enhance analytic theory and practice. I query the theory of infantile sexuality, critiquing several different theories' images of infancy: Freud's, Ego Psychology's; Melanie Klein's and Jean Laplanche's. I question both the analogy between infancy, psychic "primitivity," and severe psychopathology (especially psychosis) and the idea that sexuality and aggression are the primary, endogenous motives. Rather than the essential "first causes" from the beginning of life, they are among an array of motives of interest to analysis. None of this precludes the core analytic ideas about the unconscious, primary process, object relations, fantasy, transference, and the salience of the inner world.

In the field of child psychoanalytic psychotherapy, structured competitive games such as Monopoly, UNO or football have traditionally been regarded as less conducive to deep psychodynamically oriented work. By contrast, some contemporary authors have pointed out that in middle childhood it is often precisely in play with structured games - game-play - that spontaneity and strong emotions come to the fore. These authors suggest that game-play constitutes a potentially powerful therapeutic tool for access to, and communication with, the older child's inner world. In this paper, clinical theoretical arguments are presented alongside clinical examples in support of this view and a variety of forms of game-play encountered in the analytic playroom are discussed and analysed. The paper examines how the rules and partially predetermined content of these games act as a framing structure in which the analytic work can take place safely and spontaneously, and how the model of the container ↔ contained can be usefully applied to game-play in the child therapy room. Emphasis is placed throughout on the therapeutic role of a flexible and carefully calibrated approach to the game's rules and structure and the child's cheating.

This series, proposed by the Educational Committee, explores different perspectives on the concept of setting, addressing the transformations it underwent following the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, most psychoanalysts faced the unprecedented challenge of not only altering the traditional way of conducting sessions but also adapting to new technologies, often unfamiliar to them. However, the evolution of the setting is not solely a response to crisis. Technological advancements have enabled psychoanalysis to reach individuals in regions where it was previously unavailable. Additionally, patients who emigrate often seek continuity in their analysis, which resulted in the need to maintain sessions remotely. Likewise, individuals living abroad have the chance to engage in analysis in their native language, leading to what has been termed long-distance analysis. This article presents four papers by psychoanalysts from diverse backgrounds, offering insights into the impact on psychoanalytic practice.