Search

The article discusses a paper by Doctor Christine Hill which reported psychoanalysis from the perspective of the analysand. It states that the paper represents a post hoc view of the analysand's conception of an analytic process that in the main had already been completed. It mentions that Hill did not use the word "safe" often, which the author believes is the key to how the successful analyst must function.

This paper consists of a discussion of Neil Altman's ‘Psychoanalysis and war’, which was conducted online through PsyBC in the fall of 2006. Discussants were a group of psychoanalytically oriented thinkers chosen by the author and Nancy Hollander, the author of the other paper included in the discussion. The paper represents the full discussion with only minor edits to correct typographical errors and improve clarity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I begin from the assumption that the social groups within which people acquire subjective attributes belong to two different orders. Those of the first order follow the model of organized, closed structures that define fixed places. Examples are social institutions, the state, and the oedipal structure. The groups of the second order are ad hoc groups whose life and consistency depend on the emergence of a problem that must be solved and, therefore, on a doing together. I call these groups communities. This approach to the matter of globalization responds to a way of thinking linkage organization that privileges different ontologies and a characteristic topology for each of them. We should ask ourselves whether solidarity requires an ontological definition; whether it constitutes an ethical problem (commitment), a moral problem (behaviour or obligation), an action/doing based on a previous knowledge of one of the parties, a practice created in connection with an emerging problem, a psychic mechanism, and so on. To answer these manifold questions, I travel a path – one among many possible paths – that involves understanding solidarity as a resource and a practice referred to psychic suffering, especially in present-day Argentina. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper of the Change Process Study Group of Boston addresses an unsolved conceptual problem: How does one codify intersubjective states? The transfer of concepts from infant research to the adult therapeutic dyad is more than an analogy in that certain primitive aspects of mind appear in infancy, but persist throughout life. The regulation of consciousness is one salient example. The adult therapeutic dyad and the mother–infant dyad can be viewed as self-regulating dynamic systems that are also self-reparative. The concept of implicit relational knowledge is offered as an alternative way of thinking about internal object relations. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As today, it is more and more the digital that groups and amasses us, this paper turns to Sigmund Freud's Mass Psychology and the Analysis of the 'I' to address a range of questions: what is the social (the group); what is its relation to the herd (or the mass); what is an individual; what is the latter's relation to the social and/or to the mass; and what, if anything, changes on all these levels in digital times? To answer these questions, the following claims are made: psychoanalysis is not an individual psychology, psychoanalysis is not a social psychology—psychoanalysis is a mass psychology. The paper first scrutinises how Freud's subversion of the traditional question 'how does a mass become a group?' eventually positions the figure of the Leader at the junction of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. From here we move to Jacques Lacan and two of his early writings in which he tries to conceive of leaderless groups and of subjectivation beyond the reference of the Father ('Logical Time and the Assertion of Anticipated Certainty: A New Sophism' and 'British Psychiatry and the War'). On the one hand, this allows to assess the current digital massification processes. On the other hand, the fact that we conclude that psychoanalysis itself cannot offer an algorithmisable model of the becoming on (inter)subjectivity, should be our prompt to take a political stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, psychologists internationally were shaken by the discoveries made by D. Hoffman and his team of attorneys that demonstrated the collusion of the American Psychological Association (APA) officials with the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency, and their involvement into an 'extensive interrogation' programme, simply meant—torture. Resolute steps were expected from the APA as well as from the psychological community in general, and some steps were taken. This paper poses the question: have we, as a community of helping professionals around the world, really learned the lesson given by the report? Rather than give a direct answer or offer a 'pill' to increase 'ethics', this paper offers a perspective as to how it became possible and why it is still possible to become involved in the Hoffman‐like affair. It is suggested that improvement of the situation may be achieved in two ways. First, to personalise ethical codes, making them more flexible in terms of personal choice of values and action. Second, by raising awareness to the suprasituational nature of ethical deeds that encompass situational needs, goals, and motives; as well as a broader perspective for which a person bears responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the book "The Survival Papers: Anatomy of a Midlife Crisis," by Daryl Sharp. This book draws on the basic concepts of Jungian psychology to explore the experience and meaning of conflict, depression and many other symptoms associated with psychological problems in the middle years of life.

The paradox that Freud borrows from Schopenhauer's hedgehog dilemma describes how to deal with human relationships and bonds, and how to approach others without injuring ourselves. However, if we move away from that other, we suffer. This paradox describes in a similar manner, the relationship of the hypnotising leader to the masses. We cannot live without them, but being with them causes us suffering. When others approach us, it makes us uncomfortable; we cannot cope with the hedgehog's spikes, and we do not know what to do with them. It seems that the only thing we can do is hurt ourselves. This paper proposes that the way out of the hedgehog's dilemma is not the optimal distance, but instead a brave proximity, through the path of love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Argentinian psychology has a unique characteristic: it is identified with psychoanalysis. Nonpsychoanalytic theories and therapies are difficult to find. In addition, there is an overt antiscientific attitude within many psychology programs. How should this be explained? In this paper, we claim that a philosophical history of psychology can shed new light on the development of Argentinian psychology by showing that early Argentinian psychoanalysts held positions in the newborn psychology programs and a distinctive stance toward scientific research in general and psychology in particular. In the absence of an explicit and articulate philosophical position, psychoanalysts developed an implicit meta‐theory that helped shape the context that led to the institutionalization and professionalization of psychology in Argentina. Although we do not establish or even suggest a monocausal link between their ideas and the current state of Argentinian psychology, we do claim that their impact should be explored. Finally, we discuss some limitations of our study and suggest future complementary investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a brief résumé of Winnicott's approach to psychoanalysis through a reading that emphasizes his interest in the capacity to be as a fundamental acquisition of human subjectivity. This interest continued throughout his life. The paper argues that it is closely related to his interest in analytic communication and the emphasis in his paper ‘Communicating and not‐communicating leading to a study of certain opposites’ of the importance clinically of the patient's right not to communicate and the analyst's acceptance of it. It refers briefly to the richness of the arena opened up by his idea of the incommunicado self and its implications for both theory and practice. Three clinical vignettes are included to demonstrate Winnicott's way of working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This is the fourth paper in a series proposing a psychoanalytic concept of community. The third paper of the series centered on the unconscious psychological tasks involved in creating and sustaining a community and in it achieving its reason for existence; tasks such as the formation of bonds, identity and boundary. In this fourth paper we propose that the effectiveness with which a community can carry out these tasks determines how well that community is able to function. The successful performance of the tasks is dependent on: (1) a community's capacity for psychic function, that is, its capacity to process internal tension and conflict, and both everyday and adverse experiences; (2) the effectiveness of its social defense against anxiety; and (3) its adaptability to changes and challenges in its environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the article related to methodology in the context of analytical psychology written by David H. Rosen, Steven Smith, Holly Houson and Gilbert Gonzales. Establishment of methodology as a basis for testing Jung's hypotheses; Construction of methodology; Description of the material research.

This paper illustrates how psychoanalyst should consider an interdisciplinary approach in examining the gun violence in the United States. Besides offering individualized and shared psychological causes it is necessary to understand environmental, cultural, and historical influences. By providing examples for other countries, this paper describes how grasping on one's large-group identity and being exposed to entitlement ideologies and malignant propaganda influence people to commit murders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What emotional experience settles a disturbed state of mind? In this paper I use the work of three psychoanalytic clinicians (John Steiner, Eric Brenman and Henri Rey) to describe the negative state of mind of a patient and draw on clinical material to illustrate my efforts to settle deep emotional disturbance. Recognizing the size of the emotional task by conceptualizing the depth and breadth of the pathological organization, along with thinking carefully about the ingredients of a ‘strengthening introject’ and locating an ‘introjective site’, taking into account the developmental disparity between therapist and patient are all seen as essential counter‐transference processes required to facilitate movement from a bad to a good state of mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds upon Britton's recent writing on 'models in the mind', in which he gives an account of preverbal metaphoric structures based on object relations (Britton 2015). These correspond with Jung's theory of innate unconscious structures. These innate models are considered alongside current linguistic theory following Chomsky and post-Chomskyan views about language acquisition. Neuroscience evidence linking language and abstract thinking with structures involved in tool use are presented. The implications of these findings, and our understanding of the relational context within which language, metaphor and abstract thought are acquired, will be discussed along with the failures of symbolization and verbal communication common amongst those with severe narcissistic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, attention has been drawn toward an overlooked and nearly forgotten personality type: the ambivert. This paper presents a genealogy of the ambivert, locating the various contexts it traversed in order to highlight the ways in which these places and times have interacted and changed-ultimately elucidating our current situation. Proposed by Edmund S. Conklin in 1923, the ambivert only was meant for normal persons in between the introvert and extravert extremes. Although the ambivert could have been taken up by early personality psychologists who were transitioning from the study of the abnormal to the normal, it largely failed to gain traction. Whether among psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, or applied and personality psychologists, the ambivert was personality non grata. It was only within the context of Eysenck's integrative view of types and traits that the ambivert marginally persisted up to the present day and is now the focus of sales management and popular psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper is about my supervision of the two probationary psychologists who were employed in a maximum-security prison to run a high-intensity violence intervention program for maximum-security inmates. The psychoanalytic frame became the initial trigger, a scapegoat, for my dismissal as their forensic psychology supervisor. An informal ministerial enquiry followed. I was re-instated. The context of this breakout/breakdown was the ruptured container of a maximum-security prison which violently torpedoed into the therapeutic container and reflective edge of the consulting room. The prison's walls hide the dark secrets of crimes. The haunting screams of those murdered are silenced but they ricochet down the corridors of the cell-blocks. The inmates held captive cry 'Mummy, help me, please help me!', but their cries have been killed off long ago, neither heard nor answered. This paper is a tribute to the psychoanalytic frame. It is also an indictment of aspects of the prison system for psychologists and inmates in Australia. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical practice with children using drawing always provokes surprise, and one of the surprises concerns the diversity in the speech of the child as they draw. If we pay attention to children's speech, we can comprehend children's internal world better, and explore their symptom as a question. In this article, I explore the interpretation of children's speech, through considering a clinical case of a boy using drawing, making use of a drawing method in which there is a transition from one sheet of paper to another. I also look for a point of contact between clinical practice with drawing, and elements of Lacanian psychoanalysis. This approach builds upon, and also then differs from Kleinian perspectives. The paper begins with an account of my work in a nursery with a child drawing, and then moves on to consider both a Kleinian perspective, and some ideas from Lacanian psychoanalysis which particularly concern my interventions as forms of interpretation. Particular emphasis is given to the Lacanian principle of scansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author addresses some issues regarding patients who relocate and who struggle with adaptation to a new reality. She argues that emigration is a complex psychological phenomenon that requires a therapist to pay special attention to the issue of language, difference and identity, and suggests that the issues of different culture and language in analytic psychotherapy need to be considered as part of a wider cultural context to which we all belong, rather than a specialized area of interest. The paper illustrates, through the clinical example of an East European male patient, that the psychic work of emigration can be understood as a process of integrating splits between pre- and post-migration selves. The author concludes that the analyst needs to let herself be involved as a 'real person' to reach the non-interpretative aspects of the patient's psyche through a mutuality of shared experience to promote a change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the detoxification process of shame in integrative psychotherapy from the client's perspective, focusing on the experience of shame and the interventions used in working with toxic shame. Through identifying the detoxification process, successful therapeutic outcomes that reduced shame over time were determined with further exploration into the experience of the shame phenomenon. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse data from transcripts of semi-structured recorded interviews from a sample of trainee/qualified therapists who had experienced shame as clients. The findings from the study evidence the separating and isolating qualities of the shame experience, an experience that was crippling and correlated with development and early infantile relationships. The findings of this study highlight how shame is experienced and the fundamental role therapists have in detoxifying shame through recognizing, understanding and working to normalize it. Sensitivity to the shame experience is crucial so as not to compound the shame experience further. The need to be sensitive to regression in treatment, the need for a secure attachment within a relational oriented psychotherapy such as integrative psychotherapy and the centrality of the relationship in the reparative process are seen as fundamental to the effective management of toxic shame. In view of integrative psychotherapy being influenced by a variety of psychoanalytical theories, this paper draws upon psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives in the analysis and interpretation of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks what psychology might tell us about Europe and the way in which we in Britain voted in the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016. I look back at five examples of psychological discourse that claimed to help us understand what we were thinking and feeling as we weighed up how to vote. The key question is how we might refuse where psychology leads us in order to find some alternative ways of thinking for ourselves. I argue that those who argued for Brexit or Brussels both thought they knew well what was good for us. Instead, we need to go well beyond psychology, to psychoanalysis, to discover why they are wrong. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract In this paper I explore programmes of work undertaken to address institutional racism within two institutions providing psychoanalytic psychotherapy training and services. The paper suggests that training institutions of this kind may be paradoxically positioned. The same features that we might expect to facilitate reflection and change in favour of increased tolerance and diversity may act as points of organizational resistance to change. The paper draws on a range of theoretical resources that may be helpful in understanding the acute anxieties that are often mobilized when institutional racism is named and identified as something the organization has decided to tackle. The account is interwoven with various personal reflections on the experience of this work, and some autobiographical observations that may illuminate the stories presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author comments on a paper by Morgan Stebbins which presented a concise overview of Lacanian theory. He states that the paper by Stebbins presents an excellent idea which will help in promoting any Jungian/Lacanian intellectual exchange. According to him Stebbin's approach to 'conjoining' aspects of Jungian and Lacanian theory conforms the strands of post-Jungian theory.

Accessible summary · This article looks at the richness inherent in our life experience and engages on a journey to examine this richness in the light of two experiences (or epiphanies) on a clinical training course. It demonstrates how, as a result of continued refection and reflexive analysis, my understanding of these experiences transformed over a period of time. · The field of inquiry was a training in psychoanalytic counselling. My ongoing analysis of the experiences provided an evaluation of some key features of that culture and the nature of clinical training, particularly in psychoanalytic milieu. · The article concludes with a discussion about the academic culture in which I am now working and the way in which it influences my writing style (in, for example, this article). It concludes that the discourse of this culture prevents us from reaching our creative spiritual core and examines how we can overcome this limitation. In this paper I will argue that investigating our professional experiences can enrich our understanding, widen our perspective, transform our inner lives and create an endless source of discovery about ourselves, society and the professional discursive systems that we inhabit. I will call such events, after Denzin's work in 1989, epiphanies. In order to develop the theme I will give an account of my own experience of two such epiphanies on a psychoanalytic training course in counselling. I will then present my reflexive analysis of these events over the years, including my reflections on the peer review comments for this paper, and finish with some questions arising out of the study relating to the current status of nursing as an academic profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper 1 considers the role of synchronicity in the establishment of meaning in analysis, and links it to the notion of moments of meeting proposed by the Boston Process of Change Study Group. In so doing, the paper proposed to view synchronicity as an element in developmental processes, wherein attributions of meaningfulness are made in relation to patterns of action that do not have intrinsic meaning, but which have evolved in an environment of meaning, thereby bootstrapping the infant into the world of meaning. Jung's paradigmatic example of synchronicity—the scarab beetle event—is examined in this context and the argument is made that the event was primarily meaningful for Jung and carried with it important countertransference implications that Jung did not consider. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further investigation into the relationship between synchronicity and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between clinical knowledge and psychological theory and considers the implications for clinical writing. I argue that clinical knowledge is a way of understanding rather than a body of facts and compare clinical material to ‘texts’ that generate multiple and indeterminate meanings. Analytic theories, which represent the crystallization of ways of understanding clinical phenomena, have an inherently metaphorical ‘as if’ quality since they are derived from and adapted to the clinical process of making meaning by representing psychic states in symbolic form. Thus good clinical writing demonstrates an integration of theory and clinical material into a unified network of symbolic meanings. Redfearn's paper, ‘The captive, the treasure, the hero and the “anal” stage of development’ (1979), is discussed as an exemplar of such integration. It is suggested that clinical knowledge is equivalent to the skill of making effective interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper 1 , written in draft form in 1991 and now posthumously published, the late Louis Zinkin 2 presents a constructivist view of the self. He considers some of the paradoxes in Jungian definitions of the self and compares these to Winnicott's ‘forbidden question’ regarding the transitional object: ‘Did you find it or did you make it?’. He argues that, for the purposes of a coherent scientific theory, these apparent paradoxes need to be formulated in an internally consistent way. Bemused by the many contradictions in Jung's thinking, he proposes making a fresh start by thinking in terms of people in social interaction with each other rather than as solitary subjects, as Jung did. This leads him to the view that the self comes into existence through continuing interaction with other people. Drawing on the work of Harré and Vygotsky, he suggests that the public self is prior to the private self and that one becomes real through recognition by other people in and through language and culture. The paper was discussed at a meeting held at the Society of Analytical Psychology in November 1991 and an edited version of the taped discussion follows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As this paper was originally delivered as the British Journal of Psychotherapy Annual Lecture, I have retained the spoken tone of the original. In contemporary physics, cosmology and philosophy, there is now a recognition that no single paradigm or theory can represent reality and growing credence in the idea that learning is advanced more rapidly through a pluralistic model. This paper argues that the same applies to psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic psychotherapies. It explores the value given to the recognition of difference in contemporary Independent, Lacanian and post-Kleinian thought and the psychopathology attributed to single vision, and argues for the urgent need to engage in constructive cross-paradigmatic discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I aim to bring a psychoanalytic perspective to bear on suicide bombing. I argue that our response to suicide bombing, along with horror and condemnation, should include regarding the act as, among other things, a potential communication. I try to look at all sides of the question of whether we should try to understand suicide bombing and suicide bombers. Addressing this question will bring up issues of humanization and dehumanization, how vicious circles of dehumanization develop, and the psychological perils of humanizing, in our minds, suicide bombers. Next, I take up questions of humiliation, to which I believe suicide bombing is a response, with respect to both the oppressed and the oppressors. I will take up the question of what might be communicated by suicide bombing and, finally, I address some of the implications of the line of thinking I develop in this paper. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1982 publication of Aldo Carotenuto's book, A Secret Symmetry: Sabina Spielrein Between Jung and Freud, there has been renewed interest in the life and work of Sabina Spielrein. She was Jung's first psychoanalytic case at the Burghölzli Hospital in 1904, and was referred to several times in The Freud/Jung Letters. Spielrein recovered, enrolled in medical school, and went on to become a Freudian analyst. Her most famous paper, published in 1912, ‘Destruction as a cause of coming into being’, was referred to by Freud in 1920 in relation to his Death Instinct theory. In the few Freudian publications on this controversial theory since 1920, Spielrein's contribution is consistently omitted. Jung also neglected to refer to her ‘Destruction’ paper in his early 1912 version of ‘Symbols of transformation’, even though he had edited her paper and had promised to acknowledge her contribution. He did refer extensively to Spielrein's first paper, her medical thesis, ‘On the psychological content of a case of schizophrenia’, published in 1911, as yet unpublished in English. In her paper Spielrein sought to understand the psychotic delusions of Frau M, a patient at the Burghölzli, much in the style of Jung's ‘Psychology of dementia praecox’ (1907). The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent Spielrein's Frau M paper, and its companion ‘Destruction’ paper, make an original contribution to both Jung and Freud's emerging theories on the possible creative versus destructive outcomes of neurotic or psychotic introversion, culminating in Jung's concept of the ‘collective unconscious’ (1916) and Freud's concept of a ‘Death instinct’ (1920). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times much has been made of integrative tendencies and common ground between therapeutic orientations, previously locked into highly oppositional frames. This is evident in the rapprochement between psychoanalysis and cognitive-behavioural therapy in adult mental health. It is a trend that is also evident in the shifting relationship between systemic and psychoanalytic orientations. This paper begins with an overview of factors influencing the wider integrative ethos before considering the specific circumstance of the relationship between systemic family therapy and psychoanalysis. The paper considers both the past history of oppositionality between the two orientations as well as some current developments that might facilitate a more creative dialogue. Particular attention is paid to issues of similarity and difference between the therapeutic relationship in systemic family therapy and the psychoanalytic framework of the transference/countertransference. Implications for therapeutic technique are explored. The aim is not to minimize difference but to encourage cross-fertilization between these therapeutic orientations in the interest of patients/families who may benefit from an integrated response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at some of the processes that are at work in finding oneself in analysis. It explores Jung's unique contribution to our thinking about the self and its dynamic of individuation. The author attempts to show how the Self, in its quest for consciousness, requires the surrendering of ego inflation—the narcissistic delusion that the ego is the self. A case is made for seeing analysis as an individuation process which offers the opportunity for experiences of a more authentic sense of oneself. Jung stated that individuation requires the ego to enter into service of the Self. For this to happen, the author argues that both patient and analyst must be prepared to make sacrifices and take risks. Using clinical examples, he illustrates that, although purposive, the Self can be experienced as violent and destructive if the ego is unable to facilitate its expression. This may result in an individuation crisis for both analyst and patient. The paper demonstrates how impasse in analysis can evoke the transcendent function, which also requires sacrifices to be made and risks to be taken for analysis to proceed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first half of this paper attempts to track and to elaborate Freud's thesis on the mechanism proper to psychosis with particular attention paid to the case of Schreber. It is written emphasizing that Freud was only at the initial stages of his work on the function of the father and that this led to the stumbling blocks he encountered and left him dissatisfied with his work. The second half of the paper looks at the way in which Jacques Lacan took up Freud's work. It looks at how he used it to understand the structure of psychosis in a new way, giving the specific problems that arise in psychosis a central place in the practice of psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author explores the theoretical and technical issues relating to taking notes of analytic sessions, using an introspective approach. The paper discusses the lack of a consistent approach to note taking amongst analysts and sets out to demonstrate that systematic note taking can be helpful to the analyst. The author describes his discovery that an initial phase where as much data was recorded as possible did not prove to be reliably helpful in clinical work and initially actively interfered with recall in subsequent sessions. The impact of the nature of the analytic session itself and the focus of the analyst's interest on recall is discussed.The author then describes how he modified his note taking technique to classify information from sessions into four categories which enabled the analyst to select which information to record in notes. The characteristics of memory and its constructive nature are discussed in relation to the problems that arise in making accurate notes of analytic sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of how symbols should be understood in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis. The point of view examined focuses on the recent turn to more cognitive and developmental models in both disciplines and briefly reviews and critiques the evolutionary and cognitive arguments. The paper then presents an argument based on dynamic systems theory in which no pre-existing template or structure for either mind or behaviour is assumed. Within the dynamic systems model the Self is viewed as an emergent phenomenon deriving from the dynamic patterns existing in a complex system that includes the physiological characteristics of the infant, the intentional attributions of the caregiver and the cultural or symbolic resources that constitute the environment. The symbol can then be seen as a discrete, and in important ways an autonomous, element in the dynamic system. Conclusions are drawn for further research into the nature of the symbol with implications for both theory and practice in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine aspects of the permeability of time, with a view to exploring our perceptions of ourselves as present–focused distinct individuals. Permeability of time is defined as time’s fluidity, its ability to move across boundaries of past, present and future. Fluidity, in this sense, is our capacity to experience past, present and future simultaneously. Time will be examined from both psychoanalytic and systemic viewpoints. Issues of time and timelessness, consciousness and memory will be raised and the usefulness of working from an affective base discussed. The case cited in the paper is one in which the family was in the stage of having an adolescent child. Adolescence will therefore be discussed as it relates to the issue of time. The clinical discussion will be based on an integration of the two theoretical perspectives as they relate to time and affect. In conclusion I will revisit the question of our perception of ourselves as present–focused distinct individuals within a family context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Community' is a word that is used frequently in everyday exchanges and, increasingly, in public policies and government funding strategies. Mental health promotion campaigns strongly promote 'community-focused' initiatives. The predominant discourse on the topic of 'community' has been from socio-political perspectives. Very little has been written specifically about the nature of communities, or their psychodynamics, from a psychoanalytic perspective. This paper, the first of three, considers three major conceptualizations of communities - philosophical, sociological and ecological - from a psychoanalytic perspective. Within this paradigm, a community, unless arbitrarily defined, is as much a subjective notion as it is an objective entity. Psychoanalysis has much to add to the current thinking on this subject by adding a description of its dynamic qualities, and highlighting the subjective experience (both individual and collective, conscious and unconscious) of communities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on the kinds of awareness that are exposed by clinical work conducted in the depth psychological tradition. The paper begins with an examination of Freud's clinical methodology, which is a description of a particular kind of attentiveness that reveals material normally obscured from conscious awareness. This type of awareness is thought to reveal the contents and the specific organizational features of the unconscious. In this paper, the organizational processes of the unconscious are interpreted to actually be the referents of a privileged type of perceptual awareness leading to a unique relationship to the immediate world. This is taken to be an assumption that is implicit in the models of psychotherapy authored by Jung and Reich. Both developmental and clinical researches are used to support this position. The differentiation between this awareness and the more traditional modes of awareness is further highlighted by an examination of the phenomenon of transference. Finally, a clinical example is presented to support the theoretical claims in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with reflexivity in research, and the way research is grounded in the operations of the psy-complex in social psychology. A central argument is that qualitative research in general, and a focus on reflexivity in particular requires theoretical grounding. Distinctions are drawn between 'uncomplicated subjectivity', 'blank subjectivity' and 'complex subjectivity'; and the analytic device of the 'discursive complex' is described. It is argued that such theoretical grounding can usefully draw on developments in discourse analytic, deconstructionist, and psychonanalytic social research. The opposition between objectivity and subjectivity is deconstructed, and psychoanalytic conceptual reference points for an understanding of the discursive construction of complex subjectivity in the context of institutions are explored with particular reference to the location of the researcher in the psy-complex. the paper discusses the reflexive engagement of the researcher with data, and the construction of the identity of the researcher with reference to professional bodies. An analysis of a document produced by the British Psychological Society is presented to illustrate conceptual issues addressed in the first sections. This illustrative analysis is designed to show how the material is structured by a series of six discursive complexes,and that the institutional structure facilitate, and inhibits, certain forms of action and reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that construction is not merely a tool amongst the many that are at the clinician's disposal; construction is the very means and end of the psychoanalytic experience. I reinterpret Freud's classic notion in light of the Winnicottian found object and the Deleuzo- Guattarian understanding of desire as production. I then go on to deploy two detailed clinical vignettes in order to show how, thus reinterpreted, construction is at its most valuable when it is generative rather than historical. Instead of merely eliciting an accurate representation of a lost experience, construction brings about further associations, interpretations and, indeed, constructions that reshape the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out a framework for a comprehensive theory of Body Dysmorphic Disorder ( BDD), based on interview data and theoretical reading. It combines psychoanalytic, cultural and political insights. It develops the author's earlier work on body hatred ( Parker, 2003). The role of the other - actual, imagined or fantasized - is central, and ambivalence about the body, inflated by shame, is key to this dynamic. Any part of the body may be involved, and checking is compulsive, betraying an omnipotent struggle for acceptability and normality. The author suggests that BDD sufferers are especially sensitive to the power, pleasure and pain of looking and being looked at, with the objective sense of self dominating any subjective sense. Object relations provides explanations of individual differences in susceptibility to BDD, through failures of maternal mirroring. Lacan's theory of the mirror stage explains the origin of the ambivalent relation of the subject to his/her own image, rivalry with self and other, shame and desire, as well as the enduring power of cultural norms of appearance. Freud's ideas on taboo and ambivalence, and their dynamics in changing cultural forms, are illustrated and linked to Douglas's ideas of pollution and taboo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part 1 of this paper the authors summarize those key concepts in Jungian analytic theory which differentiate it from a psychoanalytic approach. To illustrate these perspectives and their application in clinical work, a patient is introduced. The authors elaborate on a particular dream with the proposition that it holds within it both an image of the internal world of the patient's personal psyche and something which might be viewed as archetypal and emerging from the collective unconscious. Part 2 focuses on more recent developments in Jungian analytic thinking. Michael Fordham's important work in extending Jungian theory into an understanding of infant development is summarized and illustrated by a clinical example. This is followed by a brief summary of how contemporary debate within the Jungian analytic community has been much affected by recent developments in areas outside the analytic discourse which have offered both a challenge to and an affirmation of certain Jungian concepts. Examples given are from emergence theory and neuroscience. The Jungian interest in such phenomena stems from a view of the human psyche as rooted in a wider world of matter, culture, history and an unconscious that is not only personal but also collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author designates as 'traditional' those elements of psychoanalytic presumption and practice that have, in the wake of Fordham's legacy, helped to inform analytical psychology and expand our capacity to integrate the shadow. It is argued that this element of the broad spectrum of Jungian practice is in danger of erosion by the underlying assumptions of the relational approach, which is fast becoming the new establishment. If the maps of the traditional landscape of symbolic reference (primal scene, Oedipus et al.) are disregarded, analysts are left with only their own self-appointed authority with which to orientate themselves. This self-centric epistemological basis of the relationalists leads to a revision of 'analytic attitude' that may be therapeutic but is not essentially analytic. This theme is linked to the perennial challenge of balancing differentiation and merger and traced back, through Chasseguet-Smirgel, to its roots in Genesis. An endeavour is made to illustrate this within the Journal convention of clinically based discussion through a commentary on Colman's (2013) avowedly relational treatment of the case material presented in his recent Journal paper 'Reflections on knowledge and experience' and through an assessment of Jessica Benjamin's (2004) relational critique of Ron Britton's (1989) transference embodied approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper entitled "The Individual and the Influence of Social Settings: A Psychoanalyitc Perspective on the Interaction of the Individual and Society," by R. D. Hinshelwood. The paper describes a patient's process of taking in a hated object which dominate her internal world in a hostile way and reflects on social psychology.

Presents information on the books received for review in periodical "Journal of Analytical Psychology,". "The Sacred Psyche," by Edward F. Edinger; "Sandplay Therapy," edited by Eva Zoja; "Influential Papers from the 1920s," edited by Robert Hinshelwood.

ABSTRACT Issues of self and identity form the psychological core of negotiation and mediation. Generally, the conflict resolution literature analyzes these 'face' issues from social psychological or behavioral perspectives. In this paper, psychoanalytic developmental and interdisciplinary perspectives are used. Psychoanalytic developmental theory consistently recognizes that with the development of a healthy sense of self, human beings also develop a reality-based and objective, but ideally also self-reflective, sense of self-and-other. This thread runs though the work of many theorists. Fostering the development of this sense of self-and-other is also crucial for mediation. It helps parties consider and resolve competing claims. Perspectives from neuroscience and certain spiritual teachings, however, emphasize the limits of our traditional notions of self and identity. These perspectives can assist mediators in one of their most important tasks: helping parties realize that the value of their identities is not contingent upon the outcome of the negotiation. The IDR cycle is perhaps the most important psychological dynamic in the mediation of civil disputes. This is the pattern of narcissistic inflation, deflation and realistic resolution typically experienced by parties in mediation. Impasse is a critical moment in the cycle. As in psychoanalytic impasse, mediators' capacity to release their own sense of self-investment in the outcome of the mediation is often the key to helping clients through impasse. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What kind of consciousness is best prepared to undertake effective interdisciplinary explorations in religion and science in our twenty-first century context? This paper draws on the thought of theologian David Tracy and psychologist and philosopher of religion James W. Jones to suggest that negation and ecstasy are mutually conditioning factors that go into the shaping of just such a consciousness. Healthy, constructive modes of relating to the disciplinary other imply the emergence of a transformed way of knowing and being wherein the scholar countenances the loss of controlling and autonomous ways of relating (negation), and precisely in that loss, enters into shared spaces of mutually illuminative and transformative understanding (ecstasy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis is nuanced with many non-verbal cues and interactions. This is vividly illustrated when gifts are presented to the analyst. Their physical presence transcends the symbolic frame of analysis because, although their meaning may be metaphorical, their presence is real. Unlike other material objects and pictures, the gift may seem to invite the analyst to receive it personally. It may apparently demand some form of action. A gift may be consciously given as a token, or it may be magically invested as a talisman. On the surface, it might appear to be an expression of love; it may be a communication of a wish for acceptance; but it may have more 'sinister', unconscious intent. It may embody the wish to expel unwanted affect, ward off evil or control the analyst. Therefore disposal, that is the resolution and settling of the object, is significant. The case with which this paper is illustrated traces the meaning of a series of gifts in a single analysis. It is hoped that this will enhance a wider understanding of this common analytic phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract Taking the correspondence between James and Alix Strachey 1924-1925 between London and Berlin as a starting-point, the paper investigates the relationship between psychoanalysis and culture in the mid-1920s in both capitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract We worked with Bob Hinshelwood for many years and begin our paper with an account of what we experienced as the essence of his approach in applying psychoanalytic understanding, especially an awareness of the ubiquitous effects of projective identification, to individual, group and organizational dynamics in mental health settings. This takes the form of a juxtaposition of some ideas and responses triggered by contact with patients expressed by Bion, Samuel Beckett and Bob himself. They all conveyed what it feels like when 'bits of identity' are passed around through unconscious interpersonal interactions. We then introduce the forensic psychotherapy context in which we work and try to apply what Bob helped us to see. Contact with severely mentally ill patients, who have committed catastrophic assaults, is work on the countertransference edge where patients' deficit in the capacity for symbolic communication and subsequent resort to action - sustained streams of projective identifications - evoke the maximum emotional impact in staff. We conclude with an example of a reflective practice group for beleaguered, often frightened, staff who desperately need but also attack - much as their patients do - what Bob called the attempt to build a reflective space which is so vital to survival and effective work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]