DOCSLIB.ORG

Freud and Systems Theory: an Exploratory Statement

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Freud and Systems Theory: an Exploratory Statement FREUD AND SYSTEMS THEORY AN EXPLORATORY STATEMENT BY PIETER WILLEM GROBBELAAR A dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree. Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in Psychology in the Faculty of Arts at the Rand Afrikaans University Promoter: Dr. M.F. Joubert Co-promoter: Prof. D. Beyers November, 1989 dedicated to Phoenix Estropu ••••••• OPSOMMING Alhoewel Freudiaanse teorie tradisioneel een van die belangrikste benaderings tot psigoterapie is, is ook baie indringende kritiek vanuit verskillende perspektiewe daarop gelewer. Daar is gepoog om die positivistiese en hermeneutiese kritiek te beantwoord op beide 'n teoretiese en 'n metodologiese vlak deur gebruik te maak van 'n sistemiese benadering. 'n Sistemiese perspektief is gevolglik nie net gebruik om 'n teoretiese herformulering van Freudiaanse teorie te bewerkstellig nie, maar dit is ook gebruik om 'n metodologie wat aan die vereistes vir aanvaarbare navorsing op Freudiaanse teorie voldoen, te ontwikkel. Die metodologie bestaan daaruit dat dit 'n volledige rapportering van so veel as moontlik van die navorsingsproses insluit wat beteken dat die terapeut se teoretiese uitgangspunte, die agtergrondsgegewens van die pasient en die volledige transkripsie van die sessies aangegee word. Die gegewens is kwantitatief sowel as kwalitatief ontleed. Die kwantitatiewe ontleding is gedoen met behulp van 'n rekenaar program, genaamd WORDS, wat op grond van 'n tros analise die tematiese lyne in die sessies aandui. Die kwalitatiewe ontleding van die gegewens behels die aandui van die sekwensi~le ontwikkeling van die interaksies, asook die spesifieke ontleding van die vrye-assosiasies in die sessie. Die gevolgtrekkings wat bereik is in die studie word gekonstitueer, en is ingebed, in die uitspeel van die navorsingsproses in sigself. Die waarnemings, die gedagtes, die prosesse, die patrone, skep saam die beeld wat die gevolgtrekking is. SUMMARY Although Freudian theory traditionally constitutes one of the most important approaches to psychotherapy, it has also generated much criticism from different scientific perspectives. An attempt is made in this study to answer the criticisms of the hermeneuticians and the positivists by using a systemic approach to indicate a possible solution to the methodological and theoretical problems which beset Freudian theory and praxis. The research procedure was reported as fully as possible. This implies that the therapist's theoretical perspectives, the case history of the patient, and the complete transcription of the sessions are reported. The results were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed in an integrated approach. The quantitative analysis was done with the use of a computer program called WORDS, which employs a clustering technique to indicate the development of thematic centroids. The qualitative analysis of the sessions indicates the sequential development of the interaction, and also includes the analysis of the free-associations in each session. The conclusions which are reached in this study are constituted, and reflected in the report of the research process itself. The observations, the thoughts, the processes and the patterns together create the picture which is the conclusion. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my gratitude to the following people for the contributions they made to this study:- My promoters, Marietjie Joubert and Dave Beyers; Anelle Rossouw, for her typing; Norma Coosner and Alex Potter for their editing; The Human Sciences Research Council and the Rand Afrikaans University for financial assistance. The author is solely responsible for all opinions expressed in this study. ******* INDEX PAGE CHAPTER 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 .1 • Introduction 1 1.2. The research problem in Freudian theory 3 1 • 3. Psychoanalysis and systems theory 5 1 • 4. The logico-historical antecedents and the main principles of systems theory 10 1 • 5. The development and structure of this study 13 1.5.1. Structure of the study 16 CHAPTER 2 18 FREUDIAN THEORY 18 2.1 • Introduction 18 2.2. The sexual aetiology of neurosis 20 2.2.1. Freudian procedure 20 2.2.2. The differential diagnosis of the neurosis 22 2.3. The structure and functioning of the psyche 27 2.4. The structure of ideation 42 2.5. The interpretation of dreams 44 2.5.1. Free and bound energy 46 ( i i) .•• (ii) PAGE 2.5.2. Condensation 47 2.5.3. Displacement 51 2.5.4. Regard for representability and symbolization 54 2.5.5. The structure of the psyche 55 2.5.6. Wish-fulfilment 57 2.6. Death and destruction 61 2.6.1. Beyond the pleasure principle 61 2.6.2. The Ego and the Id 63 2.7. Conclusion 65 CHAPTER 3 67 THE PHILOSOPHICAL CRITICISM OF FREUDIAN THEORY 67 3.1 . Introduction 67 3.2. The hermeneutic critique of Freudian theory 67 3.2.1. Freud's views on the scientific status of psychoanalytic theory 69 3.2.2. A discussion of Habermas's critique of Freud 73 3.2.2.1. Habermas's epistemological criticism of Freud 77 Conclusion 81 Cioffi's criticism of Freud 82 Farrel's critique of Freudian theory 85 (iii) ••• (iii) PAGE 3.4.1. The use of case material to validate F'reudian theory 91 Conclusion 100 CHAPTER 4 101 EPISTEMOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN SYSTEMS THEORY 101 4.1 • Introduction 101 4.2. Definition and properties of a system 102 4.3. Epistemology 107 4.3.1. Definition of epistemology 108 4.3.2. The recursive nature of knowledge 108 4.3.3. Cybernetics 110 ... 4.3.4. On causality 117 4.3.5. Autopoiesis 121 4.3.6. Autopoiesis and cognition 125 4.3.6.1. Language and self-awareness 125 Form and substance 126 Empirical observation and systems theory 128 Conclusion 132 (iv) ••• (iv) PAGE CHAPTER 5 133 TOWARDS THE REFORMULATION OF IMPORTANT FREUDIAN CONCEPTS 133 5.1 • Introduction 133 5.1 .2 A first statement 134 5.2. On the processes which determine the changes from unconsciousness to consciousness 138 Language as an organizing principle in the psyche 145 5.4. The homeostatic function and the organization constituted in the organism 150 On the genesis of hysterical symptoms and the general functioning of the psyche 153 5.6. Defence and repression 157 5.6.1. Manifest and latent dream content 160 5.6.2. Explicating and extending Freud's views on the factors determining the organization of dream elements 166 5.7. Transference and repetition 173 5.8. Conclusion 175 ( v) ••• (v) CHAPTER 6 177 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 177 6.1 • Introduction 177 6.2. Ricoeur's views on the verification of Freudian theory 178 The pre-conditions for research on Freudian theory 184 A historical survey of research on Freudian theory 185 6.4.1. Research on the dynamic theory 186 6.4.1 .1. Oral character 187 6.4.1.2. Anal character 189 6.4.2. The relationship between adult personality types and infantile experiences 191 6.4.2.1. Retrospective studies 191 6.4.2.2. Cross-cultural studies 192 6.4.2.3. Current and longitudinal studies 192 6.4.3. Studies on the erotic nature of oral and anal activities 194 6.4.4. Research on the Oedipus complex 196 6.4.5. Research on the structural theory 201 6.4.6. Defence mechanisms 205 6.4.6.1. Studies on repression-proper 206 6.4.6.2. Studies on primary repression 210 6.4.6.3. Displacement 211 (vi)/ ... (vi) PAGE 6.4.6.4. Projection 212 6.4.6.5. General studies on defense mechanisms 212 Conclusion 215 6.5. The methodological perspectives structuring the research in this study 216 6.6. The quantitative analysis 218 6.6.1. Historical perspective 218 6.6.2. WORDS systems logic 219 6.6.3. The WORDS procedure 220 CHAPTER 7 222 A PUNCTUATION OF THE FREUDIAN HOUR 222 7.1 • Introduction 222 7.2. Research procedure 226 7.3. Case history and contextual briefing 227 7.3.1. Contextual background 228 7.4. Therapist's perception of the patient 231 7.5. Data and discussion 234 7.6. Session 1 237 7.6.1. Sequential analysis 264 7.6.2. Quantitative analysis 270 7.6.3. Analysis of free-associations 273 (vii)/ ..• (vii) PAGE 7.7. Session 2 278 7.7.1. Sequential analysis 340 7.7.2. Quanti ta ti ve analysis 346 7.8. Session 3 348 7.8.1. Sequential analysis 374 7.8.2. Quantitative analysis 378 7.8.3. Analysis of free-associations 381 7.9. Session 4 385 7.9.1. Quantitative analysis 413 7.9.2 Sequential analysis 415 7.9.3. Analysis of free-associations 429 7.9.4. Patient's commentary on the sessions 438 7.9.5. Therapist's commentary on the patient's commentary 448 CHAPTER 8 451 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 451 8.1 • Reflections and refutations 451 8.2. Weaknesses in this study and indications for future research 455 Conclusion 456 BIBLIOGRAPHY 461 - 1 - CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Introduction Freudian theory has been one of the major streams of thought in psychology since the beginning of the century and has also made a far greater impact on Western thinking than any other psychological theory has done. Many important personality theorists such as Jung, Adler, Horney, Fromm and Sullivan have, to a lesser or greater extent, incorporated Freudian concepts into their theories. Many personality theories directed at, and generated from, clinical practice have also been based on Freudian theory. The theories of Melanie Klein, Winnicot, Fairbairn, Wilhelm Reich, Lacan and the ego psychologists take Freudian theory as their departure point. However, Freudian theory has always been extremely controversial. From the beginning, when Freud and Breuer published their Preliminary Communication in 1893 and Studies on Hysteria in 1895, the academic community has been extremely sceptical of the scientific credibility of Freudian theory. This 2/ ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Freud: Memory and the Metapsychological Witch
    Freud: Memory and the Metapsychological Witch Manuel Batsch Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University College London 2015 I, Manuel Batsch confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisors, Juliet Mitchell and Liz Allison for their excellent guidance and generous encouragement during this project. Thanks to their benevolent attention and intelligent advice, I was able to construct and structure my research question. Our supervision meetings were crucial steps in the writing of my thesis and they also remain in my memory as transformative existential moments. I was impressed by the accuracy with which they read and corrected my drafts, a process from which I learnt a great deal. Psychoanalysis and Feminism is an important book in my inner library and often, when I feel threatened by a kind of intellectual inertia, I just have to reread some of its passages to regain a pleasure for thoughts. The seminars and supervisions with Juliet Mitchell have always triggered the same pleasure and inspired in me a form of bravery in thinking. I have been working under the supervision of Liz Allison since my MSc dissertation and throughout these years she has given me the confidence to compose academic work in English. Amongst many other things, I owe to her my introduction to a completely new reading of Derrida. Our Bion reading group was also extremely helpful and had a significant impact on my understanding of metapsychology after Freud.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychologists and Physicians in the Borderlands of Science, 1900-1942
    PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PHYSICIANS IN THE BORDERLANDS OF SCIENCE, 1900-1942 By WADE EDWARD PICKREN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1995 For my mother: WILLIE MERLE PICKREN, and in memoriam, BILL PICKREN, You taught me to love and work. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the chairman of my dissertation committee, Donald A. Dewsbury. Dr. Dewsbury has, from the beginning of this long project, been a model of encouragement, kindness, and unfailing generosity. He has shared his time, his great breadth of learning, his editorial ability, and his materials with me. My understanding of the history of psychology has been greatly deepened by our conversations. I also wish to acknowledge that Dr. Dewsbury has helped me to understand that data is a plural! Dr. Wilse B. Webb has also stimulated much thought in me about what I was doing and where I was going with my ideas. Although I did not avail myself of his wisdom as oft as I would have liked, his voice and his sharp eye were always with me. I hope that, in the future, time will allow me a greater opportunity to benefit from his great knowledge and experience. Both near at hand and from afar, Dr. Toby Appel has blessed me with the keenness of her insight . Her acceptance and friendly corrections of my halting efforts to write history have been much appreciated. One of my most pleasant memories of this experience is that of sitting at a table at iii Cafe Gardens talking about the history of biology or psychology, while hoping to hear some Van Morrison on the house music system.
    [Show full text]
  • Points of View in the Modern History of Psychology
    Points of View in the Modern History of Psychology Edited by Claude E. Buxton Department of Psychology Yale University New Haven, Connecticut 1985 ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers) Orlando San Diego New York London Toronto Montreal Sydney Tokyo Passages from the following are reprinted by permission of the publishers: Newell, Α., Duncker on Thinking, in S. Koch & D. Leary (Eds.), A Century of Psychology as Science. Copyright 1985 by McGraw-Hill. Neisser, U., Cognitive Psychology. © 1967 by Prentice-Hall. COPYRIGHT © 1985 BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER. ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. Orlando, Florida 32887 United Kingdom Edition published by ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD. 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Main entry under title: Points of view in the modern history of psychology. Includes indexes. 1. Psychology— History. I. Buxton, Claude E. BF81.P57 1985 150\9 85-4010 ISBN 0-12-148510-2 (alk. paper) PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 85 86 87 88 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contributors Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin. Mitchell G. Ash (295), Department of History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 William Bevan (259), John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, Illinois 60603 Arthur L. Blumenthal (19, 51), Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Claude E.
    [Show full text]
  • Failed Explanations and Criminal Responsibility: Experts and the Unconscious
    University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law 1982 Failed Explanations and Criminal Responsibility: Experts and the Unconscious Stephen J. Morse University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Evidence Commons, Law and Psychology Commons, Legal History Commons, Mental Disorders Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons, and the Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Commons Repository Citation Morse, Stephen J., "Failed Explanations and Criminal Responsibility: Experts and the Unconscious" (1982). Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law. 1351. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/1351 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law by an authorized administrator of Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FAILED EXPLANATIONS AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY: EXPERTS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS* Stephen J. Morse** "There is no such thing as a bad boy." Fr. Edward Joseph Flanagan "Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner." French Proverb TABLE oF CoNTENTs I. INTRODUCTION: A PROJECT FOR SciENTIFIC NlENTAL HEALTH EXPERTISE . 972 II. SUBJECTIVITY, RESPONSIBILITY AND EVIDENCE: FORMULATIONS ON THE Two THEORIES OF EXPERT TESTIMONY . 976 Ill. PSYCHODYNAMICS AND CRIMINAL LAW: THEORY AND ITS DISCONTENTS . 983 A. The Appeal of Theoretical Romances . 985 B. Does Psychodynamic Psychology Provide a Valid Causal Account of Human Behavior? Science and Its Vicissitudes . 991 * Copyright © 1982 by Stephen J.
    [Show full text]
  • Mourning and Melancholia Revisited: Correspondences Between Principles of Freudian Metapsychology and Empirical Findings in Neuropsychiatry Robin L
    Mourning and melancholia revisited: Correspondences between principles of Freudian metapsychology and empirical findings in neuropsychiatry Robin L. Carhart-Harris, University of Bristol Helen Mayberg, Emory University Andrea L. Malizia, University of Bristol David Nutt, University of Bristol Journal Title: Annals of General Psychiatry Volume: Volume 7, Number 1 Publisher: BioMed Central | 2008-07-24, Pages 9-9 Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF Publisher DOI: 10.1186/1744-859X-7-9 Permanent URL: https://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rx8jn Final published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-7-9 Copyright information: © 2008 Carhart-Harris et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Accessed September 26, 2021 8:33 PM EDT Annals of General Psychiatry BioMed Central Review Open Access Mourning and melancholia revisited: correspondences between principles of Freudian metapsychology and empirical findings in neuropsychiatry Robin L Carhart-Harris*1, Helen S Mayberg2, Andrea L Malizia1 and David Nutt1 Address: 1Psychopharmacology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK and 2Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA Email: Robin L Carhart-Harris* - [email protected]; Helen S Mayberg - [email protected]; Andrea L Malizia - [email protected]; David Nutt - [email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 24 July 2008 Received: 2 February 2008 Accepted: 24 July 2008 Annals of General Psychiatry 2008, 7:9 doi:10.1186/1744-859X-7-9 This article is available from: http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/7/1/9 © 2008 Carhart-Harris et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Subjectivity in Psychoanalytic Inference: the Nagging Persistence of Wilhelm Fliess' S Achensee Question
    Meehl, P. E. (1983). In J. Earman (Ed.), Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science: Vol. X, #124 Testing scientific theories (pp. 349-411). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Paul E. Meehl Subjectivity in Psychoanalytic Inference: The Nagging Persistence of Wilhelm Fliess' s Achensee Question An alternative subtitle to this essay, which my non-Freudian Minnesota colleagues urged upon me, would have been, "Whose mind does the mind­ reader read?" To motivate discussion of a topic not deemed important by some today, consider the story of the last "Congress" between Freud and Fliess, the rupture of their relationship at Achensee in the summer of 1900--the last time the two men ever met, although an attenuated correspondence continued for a couple of years more. Setting aside the doubtless complex psychodynamics, and the prior indications (from both content and density of correspondence) that the relationship was deteriorating, I focus on the intellectual content of the final collision. Fliess had attacked Freud by saying that Freud was a "thought reader" who read his own thoughts into the minds of his patients. Freud correctly perceived that this choice of content for the attack was deadly, that it went for the jugular. Freud's letter to Fliess after the meeting (Freud 1954) indicates that Fliess had written, apparently to soften the blow of the criticism, something about "magic," which Freud again refused to accept and referred to as "superfluous plaster to lay to your doubts about thought reading." (p. 330) A year later Freud is still focusing on the thought-reading accusation, and writes, "In this you came to the limit of your penetration, you take sides against me and tell me that 'the thought-reader merely reads his own thoughts into other people,' which deprives my work ofall its value [italics added].
    [Show full text]
  • (UMSOM) Psychology Internship Consortium
    VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS)/ University of Maryland-School of Medicine (UMSOM) Psychology Internship Consortium The VAMHCS/UMSOM Psychology Internship Consortium is accredited by the American Psychological Association. The next site visit will occur during the 2023 training year. Questions related to the program's accreditation status should be directed to the American Psychological Association Commission on Accreditation: Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation American Psychological Association 750 1st Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 (202) 336-5979 [email protected] http://www.apa.org/education/grad/program-accreditation.aspx TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 4 Welcome ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 COVID-19 Response ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Clinical Settings ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Clinical and Research Innovation ..................................................................................................................... 6 PROGRAM OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Metapsychology of Capital
    Annual Review of Critical Psychology 12 (2015) 53 The Metapsychology of Capital David Pavón-Cuéllar Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico Abstract. Upon observing that there are psychic or mental configurations inherent to the capitalist system, the general thesis that capitalism is also a state of mind is accepted. This idea justifies not only the direct analysis of capitalism by students of the psyche, but also the elaborate theory of the capitalist mind foreshad- owed in the theory of capitalism that Marx presents. By examining Marx’s theoretical elaborations concerning the psyche it becomes possible to distinguish two levels, one psychological, the other what we shall call meta- psychological, to indicate that it goes beyond the psychological, overflows it, transcends it, constitutes it and explains it. That one can announce the existence of a metapsychology of capital, in which some of the principal defining aspects of Freud’s metapsychological domain are found, including the fact that it constitutes an un- conscious conceived as a mental system and a logical localization in the psyche. This article will show how this metapsychological domain of the unconscious can serve to explain and frame, in Marx and Freud, the psychological sphere of consciousness, and through it, though indirectly, elucidate that which occurs at the metaphysical summits of religion and mythology. Keywords: Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Marx, Freud, Capitalism, Psychology Introduction and inner life, their cognitions and conducts, their be- haviors, thoughts and sentiments, personalities and Just as a Marxist metaphysics would be manifestly character traits, sensations and motivations, actions aberrant, so also there is an obvious aberration in a and interactions, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • NEEDS (MURRAY, 1938) and STATE-VARIABLES (SKINNER, 1938)1, 2 PAUL E. MEEHL It Was My Good Fortune to Be an Undergraduate And
    Psychological Reports, 1992, 70, 407-450. #151 NEEDS (MURRAY, 1938) AND STATE-VARIABLES (SKINNER, 1938)1, 2 PAUL E. MEEHL University of Minnesota Summary.—Skinner’s concept of drive as a state-variable and his powerful rationale for introducing it agree closely with Murray’s treatment of need. Operant behaviorists’ usual deprecation of motivation in favor of stimulus control arises partly from features of para- meters, insufficiently explored in some regions, of Skinner box research. For human adults on rich reinforcement schedules, response selection is chiefly controlled by the regnant motive. Skinner’s life-long interest in inner events and translating psychodynamic concepts into behaviorese was obscured by his metalanguage philosophy of science (behaviorism). It was my good fortune to be an undergraduate and graduate student at Minnesota (1938-1945) during B. F. Skinner’s period on the faculty (1936-1945), and later my first job offer came from Skinner the year he began his chairmanship at Indiana. While a student, in addition to hearing his classroom lectures on verbal behavior, I spent many exciting hours of discussion in his office and was privileged to belong to the little group of TAs who met weekly evenings at his home (Skinner, 1979, p. 266). The only clini- cians in that group were Howard Hunt and myself, both markedly (and permanently) influenced by Skinner but not “orthodox believers.” I had come to psychology via the potent bibliotherapy of Karl Menninger’s The Human Mind (1930; Meehl, 1989), and the impact of such a first-class intellect as Skinner on my Freudian commitments led to major cognitive dissonance.
    [Show full text]
  • Humility, Empathy and Rebirth: the Dinamics of Ferenci's
    ARTÍCULOS SOBRE FERENCZI. CLÍNICOS GENERALES. HUMILITY, EMPATHY, AND REBIRTH: THE DYNAMICS OF FERENCZI’S METAPSYCHOLOGY Tobi Zausner1 SUMMARY Concentrating on humility, empathy, and rebirth, Sándor Ferenczi’s compassionate psychology attunes itself to the fundamentals of the human condition. Unlike Freud, Ferenczi did not dismiss reports of abuse in childhood but listened in an effort to heal the wounds. Ferenczi’s work with traumatized individuals reflected his non-hierarchical approach to the therapeutic relationship while his empathic method posits the transformation of the analyst as well as the client. Examined here as a metapsychology, Ferenczi’s theory has correlates with modern scientific research and the philosophy of ancient civilizations. Because his psychology is congruent with aspects of linguistics; mathematics; chaos theory; catastrophe theory; Greek philosophy; Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist religious thought; humanistic psychology (especially client- centered therapy); initiation rituals; and shamanic practices, it demonstrates the universality of his ideas. Keywords: humility; empathy; rebirth; Ferenczi; compassion; mirroring; trauma; transformation; abuse; metaphor; parable; pain; language; symbol; phase space Sándor Ferenczi’s gentle and compassionate psychology finds its culmination in one of his last works The Confusion of Tongues Between Adults and the Child: The Language of Tenderness and Passion (1933/1980). Published posthumously and suppressed in its day, this pioneering effort to recognize and treat the effects of child abuse is only now beginning to receive the accord that is its due (Rachman,1989,1994,1997a,1997b). Unlike Freud, who originally gave credence to memories of early sexual abuse but later pronounced them to be fantasies, Ferenczi did not dismiss reports of trauma but worked to heal them.
    [Show full text]
  • (1948) Described the Emotional Reaction That Follows a Patient S
    Running Head: ON EFFORTS TO LINK PSYCHOANALYSIS AND NEUROSCIENCE 1 On Aphasia, the Danger Situation, and Contemporary Efforts to Link Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience John M. Watkins Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis Author Note John M. Watkins, Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, CA This manuscript is based on an earlier unpublished version that was awarded the Daphne S. Stolorow Memorial Essay Prize. Correspondence: John M. Watkins, 429 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 200, Santa Monica, CA 90401. E-Mail: [email protected] ON EFFORTS TO LINK PSYCHOANALYSIS AND NEUROSCIENCE 2 Abstract Recent scientific advances are leading to renewed efforts to integrate psychoanalysis and neuroscience, despite earlier attempts and failures by Freud and others. The collapse of Freud’s attempt to bridge neurology and psychology left a legacy of dualism that remains with psychoanalysis and much of psychology today—a dualism that was absent from his earlier neuropsychological work. Freud’s abandonment of neuropsychological work represented a dramatic shift in his focus of inquiry away from studies of focal cortical lesions and toward a more expansive general theory of mental life and psychopathology. Spanning Freud’s neuropsychological and psychoanalytic theories is a methodology based on the detailed analysis of single or small series case reports; a method that remains at the heart of many critical historical shifts in both psychoanalysis and neuropsychology. Intrinsic to this method is an effort to make sense of individual experience. This paper explores the problems inherent in bridging psychoanalysis and neuroscience by examining a single case report from the perspective of two crucial points in Freud’s career.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a Unified Psychoanalytic Theory: Foundations in a Revised and Expanded Ego Psychology
    58th Annual Meeting of the Rapaport-Klein Study Group Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 12-14, 2020 (in videoconference) www.psychomedia.it/rapaport-klein Toward a Unified Psychoanalytic Theory: Foundations in a Revised and Expanded Ego Psychology Morris N. Eagle, Ph.D. Introduction This paper is based on my book entitled Toward a Unified Psychoanalytic Theory: Foundations in a Revised and Expanded Ego Psychology (Eagle, 2021), and sort of completes a circle for me from the time I spent at the NYU Research Center for Mental Health as a young man, to my current book on ego psychology late in my life. The dominant psychoanalytic ethos at the Research Center was an ego psychology perspective along with receptivity to cross-fertilization between psychoanalysis and ideas and findings from non-psychoanalytic sources. I return to that ethos in my book. I should probably not say “return” because, as I think about it, one foot in psychological research and theory and one foot in psychoanalysis have been at the center of much of my work. Main claim of the book The main claim I make in my book is that a corrected and revised ego psychology constitutes the strongest foundation for a unified psychoanalytic theory of the mind, one that is best suited to integrate relevant findings from non-psychoanalytic sources, is best able to address and integrate the phenomena of primary interest to other psychoanalytic schools, and perhaps, surprisingly, one that places of the “personal element”, “the I”, at the center of psychological life. I will return to this last idea later in the paper.
    [Show full text]