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Although the capacity to mourn is ubiquitously acknowledged as critical for individual psychic functioning, the impact of this capacity on a collective social level has been examined to a very limited extent in the psychoanalytic literature to date. The two papers that take up this this topic thus bring various critical and complex issues to our attention. After reviewing and commenting on these papers, I discuss how these issues are particularly relevant today to society in general and psychoanalysis in particular. I believe that the ability to mourn is under siege in the Western world at present, with respect to both "macro" mourning that is, mourning for significant losses such as a beloved person, ideal, or country, and "micro" mourning or mourning for losses inherently and unavoidably implicated in choices we make in everyday life. These mourning processes are undermined by the impact of complex socioeconomic parameters on psychic functioning, as evidenced by various internal problems and symptomatology characteristic of our times. In turn, difficulties in mourning contribute to social problems including social injustice, wars and the climate crisis. As psychoanalysts we are called upon to address these issues in our clinical work as well as in our global community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exploration of gratitude as a fundamental concept in psychoanalysis. Melanie Klein’s classic article “Envy and Gratitude” (1957) named gratitude at one pole on an axis of human suffering and flourishing, but with a few notable exceptions, the article stimulated research into envy. This paper explores the historical and philosophical traditions that have, to some extent unconsciously, influenced our contemporary understandings of gratitude. The paper also works to explore the social and ethical meanings of gratitude as well as gratitude’s psychoanalytic significance. The aim is to uncover the overall psychic significance of gratitude and its place in human flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ways in which psychoanalytic perspectives may have been limited by the Western cultural context in which they originated and explores the potential of the Indian cultural imagination to broaden psychoanalytic thinking about ego formation, the nature of Eros, bisexuality, and individuation. The case is made for the need to retain the diverse perspectives offered by the cultural imaginations of different civilisations despite the globalization of ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights elements of Peirce's philosophy used by four well-known psychoanalytic authors, Ricardo Steiner, André Green, Bjorn Salomonsson and Dominique Scarfone, showing how contributions from Peirce's ideas could clarify psychoanalytic matters. The subject of Steiner's paper is how Peirce's semiotic could help to fulfill a conceptual gap mainly in Kleinian tradition in relation to phenomena that occur between what are called "symbolic equations" (representations lived as facts, by psychotic patients) and symbolization. Green's writings question Lacan's conception that the unconscious is structured like a language, suggesting that Peirce's signs, particularly the icons and indices, would be more appropriate to think about the unconscious than the linguistics used by Lacan. One of the Salomonsson's papers gives a good example of how Peirce's philosophic notions can be enlightening in the clinical area, as they are used to answer the criticism that words could not be understood by a baby in a "mother-infant" treatment; the other uses Peirce's conceptions to give interesting suggestions about Bion's beta-elements. The last paper, from Scarfone, broadly address the constitution of significations in psychoanalysis, but we will limit ourselves to consider how Peirce's concepts are used in the model proposed by Scarfone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from Edmund Husserl's last book Experience and Judgement, this paper explores the notions of "passivity" and "receptivity" in phenomenology and psychoanalysis. Both sciences agree that receptivity differs from passivity, but they have developed different conceptualizations about the very nature of the rudimentary "ego-activity" which is the source of receptivity. In phenomenological terms, "pre-predicative" experience roots in a primary presence and openness of the ego towards the world, whilst psychoanalysis has emphasized the role of projective and introjective processes which are close to bodily experiences and unconscious phantasy. The second part of the paper draws some conclusions concerning the analytic situation, in particular the shift among receptivity, empathy, curiosity and creative imagination as central features of the analytic attitude from a mainly Kleinian point of view. The paper argues that receptivity is a field where phenomenological and psychoanalytic approaches can mutually enrich and learn from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author offers a new reading of Freud's "Remembering, Repeating and Working-through", examining the complex nature of central concepts that Freud presents within it. She demonstrates the text's special role in an ongoing effort of Freud's to articulate and ground the heart of his analytic insight that knowledge cures. While the insight itself is very well-known, the fact that Freud struggled throughout his life with its articulation and grounding is not. The struggle centered on questions pertaining to how analytic knowing could, not only enlighten the patient, but actually change his unconscious dynamics, and why the patient, having already "opted" for pathology in place of knowing would come to accept it; and ultimately, what was the nature of the knowledge offered in analysis and the individual's relationship to it that allowed for such dramatic changes to occur. The author briefly presents some of her earlier work on Freud's struggle with these issues and how Melanie Klein resolved them. It is in this context that she demonstrates how in Remembering, Repeating and Working-through" Freud may be seen to be taking important steps towards developing his ideas on analytic knowing and in ways that anticipate Klein's resolutions. This points to the close tie between Klein's and Freud's thinking on the nature of the analytic process and the person's desire for self-knowledge on which it relies, brings out the richness of this thinking and grounds its value to contemporary psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper confronts psychoanalytic dream theories with the findings of empirical dream research. It summarizes the discussion in psychoanalysis around the function of dreams (e.g. as the guardian of sleep), wish-fullfilment or compensation, whether there is a difference between latent and manifest content, etc. In empirical dream research some of these questions have been investigated and the results can provide clarifications for psychoanalytic theorizing. The paper provides an overview of empirical dream research and its findings, as well as of clinical dream research in psychoanalysis, which was mainly conducted in German-speaking countries. The results are used to discuss the major questions in psychoanalytic dream theories and points out some developments in contemporary approaches which have been influenced by these insights. As a conclusion the paper attempts to formulate a revised theory of dreaming and its functions, which combines psychoanalytic thinking with research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychoanalytic identity "in vivo" means psychoanalysis as an authentic, lived experience, socially and historically situated. What we have inherited from the psychoanalytic tradition now needs to be collectively and individually updated and shaped as therapy, as research and as theory. The focus of this paper is on developing a more critical and realistic sense of psychoanalytic identity, grounded in our clinical experience. We need to recognise our identity in what we actually do and achieve with our patients in our daily practice and avoid idealisations or devaluations arising from theoretical speculation. The important role of the Three Level Model (3-LM) and similar working parties is discussed. Psychoanalysts need a pluralistic professional identity, which implies triangulating our clinical perspectives with those of other colleagues, as happens in 3-LM clinical discussion groups, and contextualizing our knowledge from a broad perspective, including extra-clinical research and interdisciplinary dialogue with both health sciences and hermeneutic disciplines. A psychoanalytic identity that is open to the future requires an acknowledgement of the different positions that exist within our discipline and neighbouring fields, and a willingness to critically examine and discuss these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the Lacanian metaphor of the mirror as a logical operator. While the mirror–stage has often been discussed regarding its imaginary relevance, the mirror as a logical operator has not yet been discussed. To mark a first approach to this, the paper discusses the formulas Lacan offers in his Seminar X, "Anxiety," as an example for the use of this operator. The formulas show a great deal of complexity that binds several elements of Lacanian thought together. Within Lacanian theory, they show a distinct relationship to the specularised and non–specularised images of the Möbius strip, as well as to the cross–cap, and they offer a deeper insight into the widely used metaphor of the mirror. These formulas also offer a wider insight into how 'mirroring' can be understood formally in non–Lacanian psychoanalysis. The mirror operator as a logical tool enables analysts to conceive of how an indeterminate element is part of our identity and how this structures angst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lacan papers reading is difficult and often disappointing. His technique, using shortening of sessions as a way of interpreting transference ("scansion") is unacceptable. His great project of create a united structural theory of psychoanalysis, linguistic and anthropology has failed. However, his works on transference are worth being red. Lacan has reminded psychoanalysts that they are "divided subjects", meaning that their unconscious remains unconscious to themselves, that they have to listen to themselves as much as they have to listen to their their patients; he has rediscovered the importance of après-coup, already stressed by Freud, but often forgotten; and above all, he has rediscovered the importance of words in transference interpretation, showing the importance of the link between two signifiers, more than the link between signifier and signified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to report the partial results of an exploratory investigation into how twelve psychoanalysts of different theoretical-clinical orientations perceive and use hypotheses about the phenomena of change in connection with selected material from a psychoanalytic treatment. The Three-Level Model (3-LM) was used for the observation of patient transformations and for the collection of data. This was followed by the statistical analysis of the behaviour and relationship of a set of variables relating to the type and degree of change perceived in the patient's mental functioning during the course of her treatment. The results reported here show that there was significant agreement among the participants, irrespective of their theoretical-clinical orientation, as regards the following: 1) the positive impact of the application of psychoanalytic treatment in diverse areas of the patient's mental functioning; 2) the explanatory hypotheses of the changes observed in the patient under consideration; 3) the usefulness of the experience of group exchange using the 3-LM in observing and understanding the changes in the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides the symbolic unconscious, psychoanalysis today investigates unconscious structures that are dissociated from mental functioning (Lombardi 2017) and encoded in bodily inscriptions. These bodily configurations often stay outside of the psychoanalytical attention and technique of treatment. Two concepts – encapsulated body engrams and somatic narration – provide a theoretical and technical proposition for the bodily encoded unconscious. Within this frame, the paper focuses on new aspects. It is outlined that the encapsulated body engrams result from a traumatic disorganization of the primal relation to the caregiver leading to an impossibility of a separation from the mother's body. Separation is now feared as a deadly fall into an endless abyss. However, this element is no longer viewed as an unconscious phantasy that can be interpreted but as the perception of a disorganized bodily syndrome that must be worked through with a considerable reverberation-time (Birksted-Breen 2009) in a body-to-body dialogue. Somatic narration encourages the patient to describe his painful bodily perception and invites the body-self to show up during the analytical encounter. Working this way allows the patients disorganized body-self to slowly develop into a container to harbor, organize and symbolize emotions. Four clinical examples illustrate this manner of working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many situations are now characterized by a breakdown of order and structure, leaving people at the peril of unorganized forces (war machines, human traffickers, etc.) resulting in the dehumanizing of ordinary people on a mass scale, especially in the refugee field. The paper focuses on how alienating discourses on "trauma" and society's neglect of traumatized people increase suffering and have grave consequences for coming generations. It reflects on how psychoanalysis may represent a mediating function in relation to regressive processes at individual, group and societal levels. A conceptualization of a third position from which psychoanalysis can work is developed. The third position is seen as inevitable in psychoanalytic clinical work in that symbolization and working though must be anchored in a common cultural discourse. A model for rethinking traumatization is proposed that develops the conception of the third position in relation to a broader field and encompasses the subject's relations to dyadic, bodily-affective relations, to the group and family, and to culture/ discourse. This model may lay the groundwork for understanding how atrocities and social catastrophes such as collective traumatization can be worked through at the individual and social levels. Clinical examples are presented to illuminate these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the psychoanalytic contribution to the understanding of war. It takes as its frame of reference the conditions of possibility in the human subject that form the basis for the detonation of such extremes of destruction. Starting with key papers of Freud that address this malaise of our "civilization" it goes on to consider the contributions from the Kleinian school (particularly Money-Kyrle and Segal). The argument is situated within a frame of reference which views the psychoanalytic contribution as part of what the author terms an interdisciplinary conversation. The paper concludes with some more general considerations regarding the horrors of our contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a phenomenon observed in parent–infant psychotherapy (PIP). Metaphors emerge in the analyst and, once voiced, they can become tools for understanding the present predicament of mother and/or child. The article contains vignettes from work with a mother and her son, four weeks old when PIP started. They are followed by a vignette of an adult analysand. In both settings, the analyst found himself in an impasse, until he came up with a metaphor expressed to the mother and the analysand, respectively. The paper investigates why PIP experiences might inspire an analyst to suggest metaphors to adult patients as well and thence to understand their suffering better. Aspects of linguistic theory underlining the infantile roots of metaphors are submitted as well as other analysts' views of using metaphors at work. It describes how the validity of a metaphor – whether it expresses something essential about the patient's internal world – should be assessed by following up his/her response to it. It defends the position that metaphor, if used with parsimony and sobriety, is a valuable tool in enabling the patient to map their internal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the contributions of Alan Sugarman (US), Rachel Blass (Israel), Paul Denis (France), Luisa Perez (Uruguay), Bernard Reith (Switzerland) and David Tuckett (UK) to a debate on the question of how we can enable productive discussion about our scientific differences and why historically it has been so difficult for the discipline of psychoanalysis to initiate and sustain such discussions. By way of introduction the historical example of the Controversial Discussions in the British Psychoanalytic Society is briefly reviewed and several possible factors contributing to the difficulties are provisionally identified, including over-reliance on authority and tradition, eagerness to supervise on the basis of our own theoretical models rather than trying to understand those of others, the lack of clarity and consensus in our definitions of terms, a lack of mutual curiosity resulting in theoretical silos, an experienced threat to identity when adjustments to our positions are called for, and the lack of a methodology for undesrstanding and / or resolving differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the therapeutic approach for young children with autism spectrum disorder is a major challenge for child psychoanalysis. These patients place us in a special clinical and metapsychological terrain with its own characteristics and call our technique into question. What tools do we have for working in situations where speech has not yet acquired a communicative value? How can we intervene when an experiential subject has still not been constituted? How can psychoanalysis benefit these patients? The purpose of this paper is to show an adaptation of technique in the treatment of three children who came to my practice between the ages of two and three with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. In this context, there were certain elements that in the affective proximity of the transference bond which encouraged the child's openness to representational world and a progressive psychic structuring and subjectivation. These elements were the analyst's active search for an encounter with the child, the non-verbal exchanges between analyst and patient, and the characteristics of the interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here I present a close re-reading and creative expansion of Richard Rusbridger's (2004) clinical work with a patient who reported a dream of a hybrid woman. Building on W. R. Bion's reading of the Oedipus myth and Melanie Klein's theory of the combined parent figure, and drawing on imagery ancient and modern, I re-interpret the patient's dream as an encounter with the Sphinx. Why does this enigmatic figure, threatening annihilation, emerge at this particular threshold in the patient's analysis? To explore this question, I return to Sophocles' Oedipus the King and offer a new translation of the exchange between Tiresias and Oedipus as they debate the king's famous victory over the monster. Where (and when) do we meet the Sphinx today? What form does the ancient monster take in modern life? In this paper, I ask us to consider what it means to meet the Sphinx—and how we might respond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with the observation that a good integration of soma and psyche is often missing in our work with severely disturbed analysands, two concepts are discussed that focus constellations of bodily encoded unconscious material, which needs a specific form of working-through. The concept of encapsulated body engrams referring to defence structures revolving around the inhibition or disorganization of an affective bodily impulse is outlined. The imbalance arising this way is perceived as a foreign body within the body-self. These engrams are repetitive and are not susceptible to symbolic transformation. Parallels between the encapsulated body engram, the autistic objects (Tustin, F. 1980. "Autistic Objects." International Review of Psycho-Analysis 27: 27–39) and Freud's theory of inhibition (Freud, S. 1926. "Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety." SE 20: 77–175) are discussed. To unblock encapsulated engrams, body feelings emerging in the chain of associations are understood as attempts to communicate. In a process called somatic narration these perceptions are contextualized with other bodily sensations. The working-through of this material in transference and countertransference is described in the light of Lombardi's concepts (Lombardi, R. 2017. Body- Mind Dissociation in Psychoanalysis – Development after Bion. New York: Routledge). Two case reports precede the theoretical discussion. The paper begins with the observation that a good integration of the soma and psyche is often missing in our work with severely disturbed analysands; two concepts are then discussed that focus on constellations of bodily encoded unconscious material which need a specific form of working through. The author proposes the concept of encapsulated body engrams to refer to the defense structures revolving around the inhibition or disorganization of an affected bodily impulse. The dysfunctional imbalance that arises this way is often perceived as a foreign body within the body-self. These engrams are highly repetitive and are not susceptible to symbolic transformation. Parallels between the encapsulated body engram, the autistic objects (Tustin, 1980) and Freuds theory of inhibition (Freud, 1926) are discussed. The paper argues that body feelings emerging in the chain of associations are attempts to communicate and to unblock encapsulated engrams. In a process called somatic narration, these perceptions are then contextualized with other bodily sensations. The unfolding and working through of this material in the transference and countertransference is described in light of Lombardi's concepts (2017). Two case reports are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights some aspects of the conceptualization of trauma in psychoanalysis and introduces the three subsequent papers by Bernard Chervet, Jan Abrams and Howard Levine. It focuses on the interchange between external and internal reality, the construction of traumatic defensive organizations and the role of reparation and guilt in overcoming the repetition compulsion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research addresses the initial reception of Lacanian ideas in Uruguayan psychoanalysis. Lacanian ideas arrived in Uruguay in the 1960s in a context in which Kleinian thought prevailed. This paper studies the relation between Kleinianism and Lacanianism by analyzing discursive phenomena. The corpus used for this study was built from a variety of sources: theoretical-doctrinal papers, clinical cases, media publications, seminars transcripts, and institutional documents. The discursive materials presented here show the different controversies, crossroads, compromises, and demarcations that characterized the reception of Lacanian ideas in a context of Kleinian predominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence that Bion's epistemological contributions drew on the work of R. B. Braithwaite, a British philosopher of science, more than has generally been acknowledged. Braithwaite introduced the "scientific deductive system", a term Bion adopted. It proposed that empirical scientific methods could be applied to immaterial subjects of study, including "unconscious mental processes" (Braithwaite 1953, ix). Bion's private work journal, collected in Cogitations, documents Braithwaite's direct influence throughout its entries, particularly in one dated 10 January 1959, entitled "Scientific method" (Bion 1959b). This paper reviews relevant elements of Braithwaite's work, and examines Bion's "Scientific method" and samples from his epistemological work to argue that one of Bion's goals was to bring an empirically based scientific model to psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. More than a matter of academic interest, Braithwaite's work lends pragmatically useful context to understand Bion's theoretical and clinical intentions in greater depth. It also suggests the main reasons why his project did not come fully to fruition, which led Bion to turn from the scientific deductive system towards his later developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point for this paper is Freud's thinking about the length of psychoanalysis and the conditions for ending it. His psychoanalytic treatments were intense, but varied greatly in length. Freud's assertion that deep psychological changes take time is still topical; however, the length of time has gradually increased. Available documentation from psychoanalytic training institutes, and findings from empirical studies, indicate that the mean length of psychoanalysis ranges from between three to seven years, and varies between different countries and periods. A recent survey among Swedish psychoanalysts found a mean length of 5.7 years and a wide variation in length from 1.5 to 12 years. Discussions in a seminar group on endings and the qualitative follow-up survey showed that a unique combination of factors determined the duration of psychoanalysis in each individual case. We briefly review the potential determinants of the treatment length and the different meanings of time in open-ended psychoanalytic treatments. To conclude, we stress the need for systematic clinical and empirical studies of determinants and the underlying processes behind the different lengths of psychoanalyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a summary of the careers of the psychoanalysts Madeleine and Willy Baranger and the context in which their ideas developed. It will outline their training contributions in Latin American psychoanalytic associations, which culminated in the foundation of the Uruguayan Psychoanalytic Association. The theory of the bipersonal field, later known as the intersubjective field, will be described. This was conceptualized to study the analytic situation when problems of stagnation arise in the analytic process and focuses on the common, unique unconscious phantasy created between analyst and analysand. The concept of the "bastion" and the notion of the "second look" directed toward the intersubjective field will be described as well as the differences between the theory of the intersubjective field and the concept of enactment. The repetition of the analyst will be considered, in particular when the analyst only uses one theory. The distinction between Klein's early Oedipus and the Freudian Oedipus complex, which the Barangers considered to be two different concepts, will be explored. The essential points of Madeleine Baranger's article on "bad faith" will be presented. Finally, the concept of resignification and the use of theoretical complementarity will be highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the relationship of the analytic pair in treatments with the aid of digital media is investigated as to how it is experienced in a double virtual relationship in which the other is not physically present. The author argues that 'remote analysis' promotes a regression to idealised object imagoes because it is located in a double virtual space—that of the medium and that of psychoanalysis. Both spaces involve an attack on or at least a destabilisation of the defence and so target the domain of the virtually immortal wishful impulses (Freud, 1933, p. 73). With reference to a case example, the author discusses how previously suppressed biographical memories that had only been perceived as physical experience and pain could be lived through in double virtuality and experienced so that they became undeniable for the patient and accessible to working through. As a result emotional insight and deeper understanding were achieved. The psychic reality of the unfulfilled longing became palpable and could be overcome in the virtual space of remote analysis and analysis in person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawn from five years of experience in the web-based Psychoanalytic Community Collaboratory, this paper explores implications of the 'community turn' in psychoanalysis for roles, methods, clinical theory, and training. With participants from many parts of the world, the Collaboratory has become a creative generator of projects including documentary films, community memorial initiatives, and mental health interventions in highly stressed communities. The Collaboratory's unique pedagogy offers valuable experiential learning about the complex intersubjective dynamics common to group and community life. Through reflection on the interpersonal dynamics of three critical incidents, we illustrate the interplay of intra-psychic and political aspects of identity--what we have termed 'relational citizenship', an intersubjective self-state in which the individual and the sociopolitical are psychically linked and where the challenges of identifying with and belonging to one or more collectivities are recognized and negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legalisation of assisted dying, including euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, is increasing in countries across the world and constitutes a key contemporary debate, reflecting social changes, in which two views of suicide conflict; that (1) rational reasons justify assisted suicide, providing dignity and control of terminal illness and (2) suicidal wishes are driven by unconscious and disturbing internal conflicts. In this paper we explore the unconscious motives and meanings of requests for assisted suicide. Although there is a paucity of psychoanalytic literature on the subject, and an absence of practice examples, we make two links, firstly, with the literature of palliative and end of life care, and, secondly, with psychoanalytic understanding of suicide, in order to develop the view that unconscious factors are crucial to understanding requests for assisted suicide. We provide an illustrative case example of psychodynamic psychotherapy with a 94-year-old woman, drawing out theoretical and practice implications. We show that unconscious factors and motives lie behind apparently rational requests for assisted suicide, and attention to these through psychoanalytically informed treatment can bring about therapeutic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a long tradition of psychoanalysis in the community in France. The first psychoanalysts working in public institutions did so in places such as the network of the Offices publics d'Hygiène sociale (OPHS), initially intended to treat tuberculosis, infant mortality, etc., after the Second World War. The introduction of psychiatric care in the community mobilized a genuine interpenetration of psychoanalysis and psychiatry. In 1953, the SPP founded the Centre de Consultations et de Traitements Psychanalytiques, and in 1955 Victor Smirnoff created a children's centre. In 1958, Philippe Paumelle created the Association de Santé mentale du 13ème arrondissement de Paris (ASM 13), a pilot project, implemented in 1960 as "district psychiatry", which is France's national policy of community psychiatry. In the consultation centres of these psychiatric districts, called centres médico-psychologiques (CMP), psychotherapy is provided by clinical psychologists, who are largely psychoanalytic in orientation. In 1972, Pierre Marty and Michel Fain created what would become the Institut de Psychosomatique in 1978. In 1974, ASM 13 created its own Centre de psychanalyse with Jean and Évelyne Kestemberg, specialising in psychotic and borderline pathologies. The activities and theoretical contributions of these psychoanalytic public centres are presented in this paper, with attention to: the distinction between treatment and consultation; the introduction of a new approach to psychosomatics; the description of a psychotic relation to the object as fetish; the research about free treatment and its implications. Currently, the situation of psychoanalysis in France is divided between the medical authorities who reject psychoanalysis in the name of evidence-based medicine, and the persistence of psychoanalysis in both public and private practice. More generally, it appears that the central issue at stake is the conception of the 'psychic human being' and psychic causality in Western societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today in Italy, a group of psychoanalysts works according to Field Theory. In this paper I would like to show that a line of thought from the beginnings of Field Theory in physics, philosophy and psychology leads to the conception of the field of Antonino Ferro and Giuseppe Civitarese. The assumption of a continuous dynamic and a direct relationship between all parts of the field is fundamental for the conception of the analytic field. These parts have a field-dependent identity and are different in sum than when the parts are taken on their own. To trace the evolution of field-theoretical psychoanalysis, I describe the epistemological context in which Kurt Lewin developed Field Theory. I will add selected theoretical elements from works by Georges Politzer and José Bleger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychoanalysis has made a singular contribution to our understanding of how we live with the past; most importantly, the concept of "deferred action" (it will become clear why I wish to retain the English translation) challenges the association of causality with a particular temporal direction, that is, the earlier-to-later direction of causal efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of "backwards causation" (as it were) based on an application of the theory of object-use to the problem of memory. I begin with some introductory comments on Winnicott's theory of object-use, before presenting clinical observations on a patient's emerging sense of the past. In the theoretical discussion that follows, I consider the problem of memory in light of the clinical example. A discussion of the continued importance of "deferred action" is presented together with the introduction of the concept of "reclamation" as a type of re-descriptive memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on cannibalistic fantasies underlying some core mechanisms in psychoanalysis. Topics include psychoanalytic papers on trichotillomania and trichophagy in particular the pulling and eating of pubic hair; and understanding as enactments of helplessness and rage over abandonment as an avoidance of awareness of annihilation anxieties.