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This discussion of two related papers on political activism by Bettina von Lieres and Afarin Kohan focuses on the mechanism of transformation from psychic experience into political action. In both papers, the move to political action is seen as a consequence of collectivization, politics being understood as a function of groups, but a distinction is made between brute politics and the elaboration of the political as a psychoanalytic process. The original papers are seen as furthering the aims of social psychoanalysis and community psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article serves as an introduction to a collection of papers that respond to Jonathan Palmer's paper on the role of creativity in psychoanalytic work. The contributors, who are known for their creative approach to psychoanalysis and art, offer their unique perspectives on the theme of creativity in psychoanalysis. They emphasize the significance of creativity, aliveness, and play in the therapeutic process, drawing on personal experiences and artistic references. The papers encourage readers to reflect on their own sources of creative expression and consider the role of creativity in their own analytic encounters. [Extracted from the article]

In their papers, Sally Bjorklund and Hillary Grill investigate the negative impact of the reversal of Roe v.Wade on women's ability to choose when and how to manage their bodies and minds. Bjorklund offers an historical perspective, while Grill presents personal and clinical material to illustrate how misogyny and male dominance are reinforced through the intersection of externally imposed laws, socially transmitted beliefs, and the perpetuation of such beliefs through models of mind that implicitly devalue women—models such as psychoanalysis. Iinvite psychoanalysts to continue to interrogate misogyny while also asking how our clinical work might challenge and change psychoanalytic theorizing about female development, theorizing that continues to pathologize women and valorize male dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into the relationship between art and psychoanalysis, specifically focusing on the concept of aesthetic experience and its impact on therapy. The authors discuss how aesthetic experiences can lead to transformative change for both patients and analysts, allowing for new approaches to life and the ability to confront difficult experiences. They emphasize the importance of the analyst's involvement and openness in creating an environment for these experiences to occur. The article also touches on the role of creativity in therapy and the analyst's responsibility to nurture the patient's own creative self. Overall, the article highlights the interplay between art and psychoanalysis and the potential for aesthetic experiences to deepen the therapeutic relationship. [Extracted from the article]

Rachel Kozlowitz and Kirsten Lentz have challenged psychoanalysis to consider more deeply the impact on analysands when the therapist becomes mortally ill and/or dies, and to make the necessary personal exploration (Kozlowski) and structural and theoretical adjustments in the field (Lentz) required to accommodate this possibility. In this discussion, Blaustein contextualizes their thoughtful arguments in our culture's general aversion to talking about death. Drawing on the work of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Blaustein also builds upon the authors' shared recognition that when serious illness or mortality enter the treatment room, the analytic frame must be reimagined and expanded to make room for the positive and loving aspects of the analytic relationship – which may have been latent and unexplored to date – to become manifest and shared consciously between the dyad as a way to help offset the profound feelings of isolation, self-doubt and betrayal often reported by patients whose analysts have died without preparation or warning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychoanalysis had its origins in an era when feelings that could not be recognized by the mind were being manifested in the body. Psychoanalysis works towards resolving this type of split by recognizing the existence of a dual language structure that includes both body and mind as constituents of the fabric of embodied meanings. The field of psychosomatics helps to provide keys to this language, marking the essential, patterned truths that are recognized at very basic levels and increasingly organize our perceptions as we make sense of the world. In disrupting the integration of embodied meanings, trauma impedes identity development. For some patients, learning to make meaning from somatic symptoms is an important adjunct to coming to know their own embodied experience. Two cases will be offered in which somatic symptoms provided important information that was channeled through the analytic experience as a way of making sense of what otherwise remained unknown., (© 2024. Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.)

This paper presents and discusses two sets of theories concerning trauma. The first involves a contemporary social theory of "cultural trauma" and the second refers to psychoanalytic theories on psychic trauma. We argue that these two groups of theories have some relevant elements in common, despite social theorists' critique of psychoanalytic understanding on the matter. In our view, the most important meeting points between these groups of theories concern (a) the possibility to think that trauma is not welded to events but has a formation process, one of attribution of meaning, (b) that this process has a temporality of its own, and (c) that the environment (the objects, actors, and agents that compose it) has a fundamental and determinant role in trauma formation. Further, we suggest that trauma is still an open concept in psychoanalysis., (© 2024. Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.)

This paper delves into the intricate realm of Shakespearean characters in love, employing a psychoanalytical lens to unravel the depths of their emotions, desires, and conflicts. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories, particularly those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, this paper aims to dissect the subconscious motivations and psychological intricacies of characters such as Romeo and Juliet, Orsino and Viola, and other iconic figures. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to offer a nuanced understanding of how Shakespeare masterfully crafted characters whose emotional journeys resonate with universal human experiences. In addition to exploring the psychoanalytical aspects of Shakespearean characters' love, this paper also investigates the socio-cultural influences shaping their romantic dynamics. By examining the historical context in which these plays were written and performed, it aims to illuminate the ways in which societal norms and expectations intersect with individual psychology to influence characters' behaviors and choices. Furthermore, it analyzes how Shakespeare's portrayal of love reflects broader themes of power, gender, and identity, shedding light on the complex interplay between personal desire and societal constraints in Renaissance England. Through this multidimensional approach, it endeavors to provide a comprehensive examination of Shakespearean love that resonates with contemporary audiences while honoring the timeless brilliance of the Bard's storytelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe and demonstrate the value of adopting a psychosocial methodology to explore unique sexual socialisation experiences emphasising the role of reflexivity. Psychosocial methodology emerges from Psychosocial Studies, a "transdisciplinary" area interested in phenomena from "both" a social and personal perspective and in this paper is employed to investigate how sexual socialisation is shaped by psychological processes "and" social relations, and how these can be "thought together" (Frosh & Vyrgioti, 2022). Psychosocial data analytic strategies involve applying narrative and discursive psychology alongside psychoanalytic concepts to understand the possible reasons for a participant's investment in particular discourses, understanding these investments as serving unique unconscious defensive purposes, alongside social functions. To illustrate this, we use data from a Free Association Narrative Interview with an isiXhosa-speaking "Black" socioeconomically disadvantaged woman in South Africa about her experiences of sexuality socialisation within her sister-sister relationship. We show how a psychosocial emphasis traverses traditional boundaries between discourse and affect, talk and experience, researcher and researched, moving across disciplinary spaces. Furthermore, we pay attention to what is frequently considered the background of research - the study context; the emotional quality of the interview encounter between the researcher and participant; the researchers' relationship with one another and their contribution to both the data production and analysis. This emphasis on reflexivity in psychosocial methodology is consistent with the political and philosophical position of Psychosocial Studies that is critical of the reification of disciplinary knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates key factors in Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida's long polemical argument over the question of madness. The paper focuses on Foucault's consideration of a constitutive exclusion underlying the discourse of reason and unreason, as well as his insistence on that exclusion's singular relationship with madness. This exclusion is then developed in psychoanalytic terms augmenting the constitutive gesture that Sigmund Freud attributed to the plurality of subjective structures elaborated in his metapsychology. The psychoanalytic determination of constitutive exclusion is posed as being situated at a privileged position that enables it to consolidate the polemic debate between Foucault and Derrida about madness. By doing so, the intersection of Foucault's theory of madness with Freud's psychoanalysis is shown to be fruitful territory, epitomizing a hospitality to madness—thus, doing justice to Foucault in light of Derrida's critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three links between poetry and psychoanalysis are highlighted in this paper. These refer to the presence, in the clinical hour, of (i) poetic sentiment, (ii) poetic speech, and (iii) poetic specimen. Each is elucidated in detail and with the help of socio-clinical vignettes. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that, through the affirmative holding and partial unmasking of the instinctual-epistemic conflation in verse and free-association, both poetry and psychoanalysis seek to transform the private into shared, the hideous into elegant, and the unfathomable into accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the human relationship to technology, and AI in particular, including the proposition that algorithms are the new unconscious. Key is the question of how much human ability will be duplicated and transcended by general machine intelligence. More and more people are seeking connection via social media and interaction with artificial beings. The paper examines what it means to be human and which of these traits are already or will be replicated by AI. Therapy bots already exist. It is easier to envision AI therapy guided by CBT manuals than psychoanalytic techniques. Yet, a demonstration of how AI can already perform dream analysis reaching beyond a dream's manifest content is presented. The reader is left to consider whether these findings demand a new role for psychoanalysis in supporting, sustaining, and reframing our humanity as we create technology that transcends our abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slavoj Žižek's interpretation of drive as a "less than nothing" entity that goes beyond life and death itself in the space of the "undead" is the proper dimension of endurance sports. The question of how far a human can push themselves is open, and limited only by real-life investigation. This paper highlights aspects and potential limits of the drive through three stories of endurance feats: the "Iron Cowboy" James Lawrence who completed 100 Ironman triathlons in 100 days, Courtney Dauwalter who won a 240-mile ultramarathon, and Eliud Kipchoge, the fastest marathoner in history. In each story, a few themes emerge, like the paradox that "discipline is freedom," "feeling alive at the moment of death," and pure jouissance beyond biology. It is not a coincidence that the first marathoner in history actually died after making the famous trip from Marathon to Athens. In the same way, this is exactly the death that endurance athletes strive toward. This paper argues that we should understand this drive as a being-toward-death, as Heidegger's phenomenological analysis in Being and Time holds remarkably for the experience of endurance athletes. But even beyond Heidegger's being-toward-death, as well as various biological explanations for sports motivations, only Jacques Lacan's understanding of drive, and the lamella, yield a satisfying account of these fantastic athletic achievements. As well as the three stories of endurance feats, I incorporate my own experience as an endurance athlete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with Slavoj Žižek's notion of the 'vanishing mediator,' by taking a closer look at his study of the Hegelian 'night of the world.' It specifically probes into the notion of the divine madness that becomes the 'Ground' for the sane, subjective God of The Bible to Word the universe into being. Following this, it proceeds to bring the aforementioned into discourse with Bloodborne, which, in one of its endings, presents the curious case of the next stage of human evolution, i.e., a transcendence into Godhood, which occurs during a similar night. The paper, in essence, presents a dramatic stage for this madness to play out in its reading of Bloodborne, while tracing its vestiges using a postsecular-psychoanalytical lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article takes up diverse strands of psychoanalytic thinking to investigate how desire is manifested in male team sporting environments. In particular, it is posited that sporting desire shares a remarkable structural similarity to the joking relationship in that they both work through the overcoming of obstacles. In doing so unconscious desires are long-circuited and only emerge in radically altered form, upending traditional gender and sexual subjectivities in the process. The paper explores the concept of desire from perspectives that are either straightforwardly psychoanalytic or heavily influenced by psychoanalytic thought. Initially, I examine desire from a Freudian viewpoint before looking at how Jacques Lacan extended Freudian analysis through a linguistic lens. I then explore desire in terms developed by Gilles Deleuze before turning, in the second part of the paper, to an examination of the work of George Bataille to consider the desire of sport through the mechanism of the joke to trace the complex routing that it often takes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the conceptual and theoretical framework propounded by Ankhi Mukherjee. Her framework is developed through rigorous analyses of literary texts from diverse genres. It is philosophically underpinned in psychoanalysis and postcolonial studies. The interdisciplinary framework is eclectic in nature and it can be used in trauma studies, ageing population, mental health, health communication, and urban studies. This paper delineates the development of the framework and its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relational theorists have long recognized Hans Loewald as an important ancestor whose insights continue to yield value to current psychoanalytic issues. This paper locates Loewald in the historical context of psychoanalysis with particular attention to the Relational school and goes further in finding his predictive theorizing in the context of gender studies and gender transition. In detail, I discuss two core theoretical Loewaldian insights—ego and temporality—and apply them to both gender and sexuality, using clinical vignettes to highlight their value in practice. [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.

This paper regards Seneca's practical philosophy as ancestor to psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy and as a progenitor of ongoing contemporary praxis in applied ideas of mind. Facing forward into the Anthropocene, as psychoanalysis encounters Artificial Intelligence, the convergence with contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy of value concepts developed from Antiquity is discussed. Drawn from Seneca's Letters on Ethics, constellations of significant ideas present in ancient practical philosophy resonate with similar configurations developed two millennia later, and central to the practice of contemporary psychotherapy., (© 2024. Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.)

In-person meeting offers psychologically usable material—signifiers that serve as day's residue—that cannot be duplicated or substituted for in remote ways of working. Questions of materiality, the history and specificity of location, and bodily proximity all are key aspects of the psychoanalytic frame, as Bleger's classic formulations attest. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the choreography of engagement between analyst and patient: the ghostly dust in the frame enters the room. As Bleger says, with ghosts so rustled, nonprocess has a chance to become process. Two clinical examples highlight these points about materiality and in-person working. The final section of the paper extends Bleger's description to tackle the perplexing situation of patients who hesitate to return to the office. Issues of "ghosting," vanishing, disappearing are discussed, and linked to the constitutive absence that grounds any meaningfully structured presence. This constitutive absence is evoked by the prospect of the return to in-person analytic work. A final clinical example is used to illustrate this disturbing and irreducible fact about human interaction when two bodies are together in a room to discuss, over time, the life of one of the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is a critical reading of a preface by an Iranian translator, Mahmud Nava’i, to his translation of a Freudian text. Drawing on the idea of “wild” analysis defined by Freud in 1910 as inappropriate psychoanalysis, the paper attempts to compare Freud’s idea to the translator’s commentary on Freudian psychoanalysis. It demonstrates how an inquisitive, if not erroneous, interpretation of psychoanalysis could result in an embodiment of wild analysis in Iran. Although psychoanalysis was not embraced in Iran as a psychotherapeutic method in the 1960s, such understandings of the method could play into the hands of the detractors of Freud, both in religious and Leftist quarters, who took Freudianism as a threat to Muslim morals and Marxist outlooks, respectively. Also, translating Freud’s theories into the Persian language cannot constitute an essential element in psychotherapy because this type of therapy cannot be learned from books, per Freud’s account of the ‘wild’ psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual property is, from the perspective of economic theory, quite a stand-out. It retains the meritocratic particularities of material property – and, as such, advocating for its validity seems justified to many on the grounds that it helps the economic agent appropriate the benefits of his (in this case, intellectual) labour, while also being, in and of itself, immune to the scarcity which is inherent to "standard", material property and, therefore, to the so-called "natural laws" governing most laissez-faire moral convictions, seeming to be a rather positive construction instead. Such a peculiar set of attributes is bound to make this concept sensitive to both intellectual differences among its "scientific undertakers" and applicative disturbances. If the praxeological approach of some Austrian School economists, like Stephan Kinsella, renders intellectual property a monopolistic obstacle in the way of proper free market development, other advocates of laissez-faire economics, such as Ayn Rand, fully embrace the notion and even consider it the only valid form of private property in existence (material property being nothing more than one of its sub-categories). This paper features an exclusively theoretical, non-empirical methodological approach, its aim being to analyse the way in which three key psychoanalytical issues of "reflexivisation", present (also) in the field of economics, affect the concept of intellectual property. These issues are as follows: 1. How the economic agents who directly relate their (intellectual) activity to this concept risk altering some / all of the significance of its interpretative functions; 2. How the "grey area" specific to most "human rights" prevents the proper use of intellectual property rights and fuels the rhetoric used by its opponents; and 3. How some of the theoretical approaches advocating for / being against this concept are unknowingly driven by what psychoanalysis refers to as either neurosis (in the case of its advocates) or psychosis (mostly in the case of its opponents). The aimed result of this research is to provide a proper economic interpretation of the way in which the theoretical conceptual evolution of intellectual property may be affected by its very own "reflexivisation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jahrbuch der Psychoanalys Psychosozial-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (Psychosozial-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG) is the property of Psychosozial-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Passagens: International Review of Political History & Legal Culture is the property of Passagens: International Review of Political History & Legal Culture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An oft-repeated and largely unexamined assumption in Jungian psychoanalysis is the notion of "analyzability", that is, of an individual's ability or present capacity to think symbolically. It is often taught that if someone is unable to think symbolically, a depth analysis is not possible. Such an individual may be more aptly suited for supportive psychotherapy, the argument goes, an experience that may very well lead to the development of the ego's capacity for symbolic thought but is not, in and of itself, a Jungian analysis. While this sort of categorical thinking has, at times, crossed over into ontological claims about individuals and groups, the notion of analyzability encountered in psychoanalytic theory and praxis is often cloaked in facially neutral language. The impact, however, has been anything but neutral in effect. In this paper, I propose a softening of our theoretical edges through a genealogy of the category of analyzability within the broader history of psychoanalysis. Through this excavation, I explore the contingent nature of the category of analyzability, how it has constricted knowledge, perpetuated inequality, and, more broadly, obscured ways of knowing. In so doing, I recover the radically democratic potential that lies at the heart of Jungian psychoanalysis., (© 2024 The Society of Analytical Psychology.)

Globally, education of children with disabilities increasingly occurs in inclusive school settings, requiring specialised teacher education. Scholars emphasise relational and instrumental skills, to overcome prejudice and exclusion. Visual impairment (VI) is emotionally evocative, presenting particular challenges to inclusion. Using data from in-service teacher education for VI inclusion in South Africa, this theoretical paper explores the personal and emotional barriers which teachers must negotiate surrounding the 'new reality' of VI in their classrooms if successful inclusion is to be achieved, and how teacher education may support this. We set qualitative data from an in-service short course for teachers of VI learners against ideas from disability studies, critical psychoanalysis and anthropology, conceptualising relational issues arising from VI in the classroom. Due to VI's evocation of unconscious anxieties in the observer, we argue that the experiences and needs of children with VI may be felt as 'matter out of place' in the classroom, confounding inclusion. Teacher anxiety threatens the capacity for containment and creativity, undermining the secure relationship which is elemental to successful learning. To manage the experiences, feelings and needs of VI learners, teachers require education which facilitates processing of their own emotions surrounding this evocative form of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To highlight the value of utilizing the Listening Guide methodology for nursing research and provide an exemplar applying this methodology to explore a novel concept in an underrepresented group—inner strength in persons newly diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment along with their care partners. Design: Methodology discussion paper. Methods: The exemplar study used the Listening Guide methods for data elicitation and analysis. Methods included adaptations for the study population and novice qualitative researchers. Results: The Listening Guide methodology with adaptations enabled the research team to centre the voices of persons living with mild cognitive impairment, highlight an abstract phenomenon and attend to the influences of the sociopolitical context. Further, this methodology helped address common challenges emerging qualitative researchers encounter, including understanding methods of application, engaging reflexively and immersing in the data. Conclusion: The Listening Guide is a voice‐centred qualitative methodology that is well suited to foreground the experiences of groups underrepresented in research and explore emerging phenomena. Implications for Nursing: Nurses are central to striving for health equity. The Listening Guide methodology offers a valuable and accessible research tool to understand the experiences and needs of underrepresented groups and shape healthcare in response. Impact: The Listening Guide methodology can be broadly applied to research with persons with mild cognitive impairment, and other underrepresented groups, to explore other phenomena beyond inner strength and move the science forward in representing the perspectives of groups underrepresented by research. Patient or Public Contribution: Persons living with cognitive impairment and their care partners participated in study conceptualization, interview guide development, methods development and dissemination plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ética y Cine Journal is the property of Etica y Cine Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Jung stated that active imagination is a fundamental component of the second phase of an analysis that can continue even outside the analytic setting. Since it can be conveyed through various expressive techniques, such as writing, drawing, and painting, it is possible to argue that all forms of psychotherapy based on art (e.g., poetry, dance, and theater) originate from Jung's contribution about active imagination. This paper focuses on Sandplay Therapy as one of the forms of expression rooted in active imagination. Apart from some critical differences between the two analytic processes (e.g., active imagination is usually prompted in the last phase of the analysis, while Sandplay Therapy might be used since the first sessions), there are several convergences. Among the principal analogies, consciousness lends its expressive means to the unconscious, which decides what to depict. Also, the resulting image is determined from both the consciousness and the unconscious and is related to the person's conscious situation. Finally, I suggest that Sandplay Therapy—aside from contributing to the subsequent development of active imagination itself (as suggested by Dr. Carducci)—might also be used to practice active imagination in a "facilitated" and protected setting. It would help let the unconscious come up while creating the image in the sandtray, and it fosters the confrontation between the unconscious and the consciousness through the contemplation of the image in the sandtray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a response to Amanda Kottler's discussion of my paper "Empathy on a Continuum." I define my favored version of psychoanalysis as an experience about experience, in which the situations in the patient's lifeworld are as important as the here-and-now situation between them in the telling. This version requires that the analyst engage the two forms of empathy described in my main article. But it also requires that analyst and patient meet each other in a virtual space of imaginative storying. I go on to to propose that this imaginative, experience-oriented psychoanalysis offers a more intuitive way to interact with patients around racial and cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the historical development of psychoanalysis, the solitude of the patient in the session room has evolved over time in the direction that the mind cannot be considered separately from one’s story and external reality. While I was working on writing a discussion paper on Mustafa’s case, I was under the devastating effect of the earthquake disaster that occurred in my country. Therefore, my discussion paper is shaped by my associations of the vulture in Mustafa and Eva’s room and the context in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 tries to provide some clues and red threads through the magisterial work of Eric Santner. The first part takes the point of departure in his book on Schreber (My Own Private Germany) and tries to lay down a basic narrative that subtends most of Santner's work and can be encapsulated by "the secret history of modernity." This narrative is briefly spelled out through the relationship of Schreber the father (the "surplus father" as the continuation of the enlightenment), Doctor Flechsig (the seminal representative of the modern university discourse), and Schreber the son, the embodiment of the symptom of the progress of modernity. The second part of the paper scrutinizes three interrelated concepts proposed by Santner, too muchness, the surplus of immanence, and manatheism, which provide conceptual tools to address the break of modernity. The three concepts are brought into relation with the historical placement of psychoanalysis in modernity, the dialectic of "what remains" and the emergence of the new, and finally with the nature of the exception pertaining to the notion of the surplus. The last part, "the punning of reason," examines Santner's frequent use of puns ("puncepts") as a conceptual strategy to deal with the paradoxes of universality. Punning is taken not as an addition or embellishment but as a poignant way to propose a new status of universality, related to what Lacan named lalangue. The three different perspectives try to show the different ways by which Santner's work addresses the core conundrums of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying a Lacanian conceptual framework, this article interrogates the psychoanalytic underpinnings of Paulo Freire's dialogical method of critical pedagogy. The paper advances the claim that the transformative efficacy of Freirean dialogue is rooted in its unique ability to confront and engage the repressed element of trauma, or what Lacan calls the real. The author suggests that the locus of trauma stands as the elusive, yet central and constitutive axis around which Freire's dialogical engagement turns. Following psychoanalysis' attention to biography, the paper first examines how Freire's personal experience of exile informs his philosophical orientation to being, politics, and education. Turning to a specific classroom event Freire outlines in Pedagogy of Hope, the paper then develops a new interpretation of Freire's idea of naming, and through Lacanian analysis, extends Freire's insight on the relationship between psyche, ideology, and social antagonism. Pushing the idea of class subjectivity in Freire beyond its familiar determinants (namely as an 'identity'), the paper resituates the notion of radical subjectivity in critical pedagogy as the effect of a traumatic loss or gap in the sociosymbolic order of being. The author argues that the 'naming event' in Freire is formally rooted in an encounter with this unconscious gap. To conclude, the paper offers critical educators some new points of departure for conceptualizing the transformative labor of problem-posing dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinician who adopts a psychoanalytic approach in a psychiatric context often regards the encounter between two individuals as an interplay of subjectivities, whose mode of being-in-the-world is shaped by their unique historical experiences. Despite some psychoanalytic authors exploring the concept of "contact", it has often been reduced to its similarity with transference and countertransference, with little attention given to its distinctive qualities. This limits psychoanalysis in its ability to conceptualize an unmediated, preverbal encounter between two individuals. In this article, we argue that the dimension of "contact" cannot be equated with transference, and that it constitutes a vital tool for diagnosing and guiding therapy for various clinical conditions commonly encountered in psychiatry. This article is based on theoretical considerations. We first worked on the history of the concept of contact, then of Praecox Gefühl in the works of H.C. Rümke, to which we added the findings of current studies on the relevance of Praecox Gefühl in the diagnosis of schizophrenia and the study of the works of the great phenomenological psychiatrists. In so doing, we aimed to show that contact could be a tool of great use for psychiatric diagnosis, insofar that it allows for a typification of the forms of existence of different patients. H.C. Rümke's investigation of the concept of Praecox Gefühl highlights the unique mode of contact observed in schizophrenia. It is distinct from the feeling of strangeness and involves an intuitive observation of a perceived distance within the clinical relationship. Given that many psychiatric pathologies can cause patients to withdraw from the shared world, we suggest that the notion of Praecox Gefühl , beyond its original designation of the clinician's experience of schizophrenic dissociation and the particularities of the schizophrenic mode of being-in-the-world, may be applicable to other pathologies studied in psychiatric phenomenology. We propose four main forms of contact: the loss of vitality in schizophrenia, the untraceable authenticity of the hysteric, the impossible fluidity in the melancholic, and the failure of anchorage in mania. By approaching contact as a fractal form that reveals the entire mode of the subject's being-in-the-world, this typifying approach goes beyond a purely semiological or etiological reflection and can be diagnostically useful in guiding therapeutic efforts to enhance the subject's capacity to truly engage with others. Our paper focuses on the relationship between contact and what clinicians commonly refer to as an "encounter." It is important to recognize that contact is not always equivalent to an encounter, and that assuming otherwise risks overlooking the possibility that certain relational modalities could actively prevent such an encounter from taking place. These "anti-contact" modalities, exemplified by the Praecox Gefühl , necessitate a focus on the very possibility of being in a therapeutic relationship with the clinician. Therefore, we suggest that clinicians should work to establish the possibility of being in a relation with the patient, prior to attempting to create an encounter. This approach allows for a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which patients can either facilitate or hinder the development of an encounter, and highlights the importance of working on establishing the possibility of a real encounter and being-with the clinician. This paper has sought to challenge the prevailing assumption among psychoanalytically oriented clinicians that contact is merely a sub-dimension of the transferential dynamic. Instead, we have argued that contact warrants specific attention as a tool for both diagnosis and therapy in psychiatry. By examining the example of the Praecox Gefülh , we have proposed a typifying approach that could be applied to the most common clinical entities encountered in psychiatry, based on the clinician's perception of specific modalities of contact within the therapeutic consultation. This reflection on contact and anti-contact is a necessary and contemporary contribution to the psychiatric field, which is increasingly embracing a dimensional approach to psychological pathologies. By prioritizing the dimension of contact, we can deepen our understanding of the nuances of the therapeutic relationship and can enhance our ability to help patients overcome barriers to connection and encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the implications of illness and queerness for the identity Gil de Biedma constructs through his personal diary of 1985. This is a unique case of a Spanish author providing a complex picture of the effect of HIV/AIDS on his own life and work. In addition, the author's diaries are a rare example of Spanish autobiographical writing on illness. Gil de Biedma kept several diaries throughout his life. The last diary, titled "Diario de 1985", is an account of his stay at a French hospital while undergoing treatment for Kaposi's sarcoma. This short diary offers crude yet insightful material on human illness, suffering and the stigma of HIV/AIDS in Spain during the 1980s. By close reading a selection of fragments of the author's diary, utilizing an approach that combines psychoanalysis and social history, this paper exposes the connections between illness, sexuality and identity in Gil de Biedma's autobiographical writing. This paper claims that Gil de Biedma (un)consciously represses naming the illness in his diaries while being very descriptive about the physical symptoms of AIDS and its treatment. This evidences the brutal social and familial pressure to conform to a certain identity, ultimately giving way to a very particular symbiosis between the author's literary persona and his bourgeois self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The very existence of truth, let alone its worth, is currently under attack from many quarters. In the wider culture, disinformation and other forms of misrepresenting the truth spread far and wide, as information conduits proliferate. This paper suggests some reasons for the "anti-truth" trend. Mainstream media have played a role, as have theoreticians from fields as diverse as philosophy, psychoanalysis, science, and literary criticism. "Anti-truth" trends are having a serious impact on psychological treatment, affecting its content and the conception of its goals. This paper suggests some problematic outcomes of this phenomenon for practitioners and patients in various forms of psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While screen-mediated analysis long predated the pandemic, it was largely seen as non-equivalent to in-person treatment by analysts and patients alike. When COVID forced us to move our entire practices to the screen, our concerns about its limitations were replaced by relief; we could continue doing analytic work during a terrifying and challenging time. Three years later, many have chosen to continue practicing remotely for reasons that are no longer driven by fears of exposure. We mostly minimize or deny our earlier concerns about the limitations of screen work. Have we chosen convenience, ease, and a personal sense of safety over togetherness, while ignoring the underbelly of remote work? This paper identifies the convergence of several forces underlying our decision to stay remote, including guilt and anxiety about privileging our own self-interest, unmourned losses and collective PTSD, fear of the future and existential anxiety about living in a techno-culture that threatens to replace us. Our denial of these powerful forces makes it easy to rationalize a decision to embrace remote work and disavow the threat it poses to our field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchronicity describes a meaningful coincidence of events, which is familiar to us from treatments of our patients, but unfortunately has not yet been empirically substantiated. Adding to previous findings that point out beneficial aspects of synchronicity (Marlo, 2022; Lagutina, 2021; Connolly, 2015), in this paper I will show through a series of five synchronistic moments which happened in the context of therapy and analysis and which have been documented empirically, how synchronicities occur and can be used therapeutically. In my research I found several situational factors that can be considered structural aspects of synchronistic moments. Furthermore, I will show that synchronistic phenomena can have a positive influence if certain relational and transference-countertransference referential aspects are considered by the therapist and analyst. The concept of synchronicity brings the possibility of a further therapeutical instrument for the patient-analyst-dyad., (© 2024 The Society of Analytical Psychology.)

This paper explores the intricate nexus of writing and psychoanalysis by addressing a key question: In what and how many directions should analytic writing be ethical? The author structures the argument across three axes. First, in an introduction, writing's role as a psychoanalytic invariant is emphasized. Then, an exploration ensues, delving into writing as praxis, navigating complex technical choices, from micro- to macro-perspectives in clinical vignettes, their autobiographical essence, their relevance as models for theory, self-revelation, etc. Lastly, a succinct epilogue considers the relationship between aesthetics and ethics in psychoanalytic writing.

The primary aim of this article is to give a more detailed exposition of the cultural, personal, and theoretical contexts in which the Viennese psychoanalyst, Herbert Silberer's theories were born. When assessing the broader picture that this approach offers, it can be concluded that Silberer was an innovative thinker who inspired several of his contemporaries. Recognized in many respects by the society and scholars of this time, he represented quite a different viewpoint that was significantly influenced by several forms of Western esoteric thinking. Yet his main aim was to contribute to the field of psychoanalysis and develop a theory in which rationalistic psychoanalytic interpretations were combined with nonreductive approaches to mystical experiences. Silberer's name is frequently mentioned in a specific context in which his tragic suicide is emphasized rather than his innovations. Upon evaluating the materials recording Silberer's private life, it seems very likely that his suicide was not triggered by the criticism of Freud alone. Silberer's family affairs, his relationship with his father, and his financial and professional struggles could have all contributed to his tragic decision. This paper contends that Silberer's oeuvre deserves greater attention and must be evaluated based upon its own merit., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of The History of the Behavioral Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)