Nationalism, hatred of foreigners and antisemitism. Psychoanalytic considerations]

Widespread social crisis phenomena such as unemployment, shortage of housing or lack of prospects are not sufficient to explain aggressive nationalism and the revival of xenophobia in present-day Germany. While from a psychoanalytic viewpoint xenophobia and anti-Semitism have been extensively examined, the same can by no means be said of the phantasm of the "nation". With reference to a case study, the author demonstrates that the adoption of nationalist ideologies (which in Germany specifically are very much bound up with the traditional notion of the nation as a biological organism) can serve both to prevent the outbreak of neurosis at the individual level and to effect what Freud called the "spurious" healing of existing neuroses. Psychologically speaking, the phantasm of the "nation" provides scope for the realization of the desire for pre-ambivalent fusion with an object that has rid itself of everything heterogeneous, alien and autonomous.     

Anti-Semitism in the clinical setting: transference and countertransference dimensions.

Despite the salient presence of Jews in the history of psychoanalysis, literature on the subject of anti-Semitism in the clinical setting is surprisingly sparse. This paper attempts to comprehend the reasons for the dearth of literature on this important topic. A clinical section then breaks the silence surrounding expressions of anti-Semitism in the consulting room. The major focus is on transference and countertransference reactions that arise with regard to anti-Semitism in the clinical setting. Since the first section is concerned with silence in the psychoanalytic community, its focus is primarily on countertransference issues that may hinder the analyst's understanding and use of anti-Semitic material. The second, clinical section focuses on the ways both transference and countertransference reactions combine and influence one another and how they may, when properly attended to, serve as catalytic tools for advancing therapeutic goals.     

Psychoanalysis, Nazism and 'Jewish science'

In this paper the author offers a partial examination of the troubled history of psychoanalysis in Germany during the Nazi period. Of particular interest is the impact on psychoanalysis of its 'Jewish origins'-something denigrated by the Nazis but reclaimed by more recent Jewish and other scholars. The author traces the rapid decline of the pre-Nazi psychoanalytic institutions under the sway of a policy of appeasement and collaboration, paying particular attention to the continuation of some forms of psychoanalytic practice within the 'Göring Institute'. He suggests that a feature of this history was the anti-Semitism evidenced by some non-Jewish psychoanalysts, which revealed an antagonism towards their own positioning as followers of the 'Jewish science'.     

Know before whom you stand: Mikael Enckell’s Companions of the Unknown [Okändhetens följeslagare]

Mikael Enckell’s book is discussed as a combined self-analytic tour de force and psychoanalytic supplement to Jewish philosophy represented by Frans Rosenzweig and others. The author discusses Enckell’s views on the roots of psychoanalysis in Jewish thought, anti-Semitism, historiography, the importance of human dialogue, revelation and psychic integration, atheism, and the nature of recovery in psychoanalysis. Enckell’s views of a triad of human activities open to conflict and ambiguity – Judaism, poetry, and psychoanalysis – are supplemented by a short discussion on the role of annihilation anxiety in these areas.     

Global identification,xenophobia and globalisation: A cross‐national exploration

This paper explores the ways in which globalisation influences social identity. Combining a psychological social‐identity framework with sociological considerations regarding the contextual impact of globalisation, it tests whether global identification—that is, people's identification as global citizens—constitutes an inclusive category, negatively linked to xenophobic attitudes towards immigrants across countries and whether the actual country level of globalisation moderates the relationship between global identification and xenophobia. Unlike most psychological studies of globalisation, it draws its data from 124 national samples across 86 countries, with 154,760 respondents overall, using three different cross‐national surveys. Study 1 (International Social Survey Program National Identity Module III 2013; N = 39,426, countries = 32) evinces that while global identification is in fact negatively linked to xenophobia, the correlation is moderated by the country level of globalisation, countries marked by higher levels of globalisation exhibiting a stronger negative relation between global identification and xenophobia than those characterised by a lower level of globalisation. Study 2 (European Values Study 2008; N = 53,083, countries = 44) and Study 3 (World Values Survey 6; N = 65,251, countries = 48) replicated these results across other countries employing dissimilar scales for global identification and xenophobia.     

From Psychoanalysis to a Post-Foulkesian Group Analysis

This paper explores the relationship between individual psychoanalytic theory and that of Foulkesian group analytic theory. It traces some of the philosophical and metaphysical assumptions behind orthodox psychoanalytic theory, and discusses its implications for group analytic theory. The paper then describes some aspects of a post-Foulkesian group analytic theory which challenge these assumptions and argues for the socio-political to be given a constitutive role in the construction of the psyche.     

Research Note: Anti-Semitism and Superstition

Superstitions and anti-Semitism are generally based on irrational beliefs. To date, no research has examined the relationship between anti-Semitism and superstition. Four groups, Arab-Muslim, Arab-Christian, Non-Arab Muslim, and Non-Arab Christian, responded to anti-Semitism and superstition measures. With respect to anti-Semitism scores, Arabs scored higher than non-Arabs and Muslims scored higher than Christians. Superstitions varied, however, with Arabs endorsing more New Age beliefs, while Muslims endorsed more traditional superstitious beliefs. The correlations between anti-Semitism and superstitious beliefs were significant, but low, and are explained in terms of cultural differences.     

Are You Sure It Was with a Patient? What We Talk About When We Talk About Sexual Boundary Violations

Sexual boundary violations have occurred between psychoanalysts and their patients since the beginnings of our profession. Using results from an informal survey, this paper explores the effects of sexual breaches on a psychoanalytic training community from the point of view of a graduate. The author reviews some of the literature describing the great difficulty that analytic institutes have addressing these occurrences and suggests possible reasons for this difficulty.     

Psychoanalytic aims and attitudes

This paper explores distinctions and relationships among psychoanalytic aims, psychoanalytic attitudes, and psychoanalytic techniques. The author proposes that these distinctions can illuminate a number of important tensions and problems within our clinical theories.     

Freud's Ironically Jewish Science: Commentary on Paper by Jill Salberg

In his commentary on Jill Salberg's integrative and contextualizing article, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Freud's Jewish Identity Revisited,” Aron examines several ideas related to Freud's ironically “Jewish science.” First, this commentary takes up the question of what it has meant to speak of a “Jewish science” historically, and what it might mean today. Shockingly, Aron shows that the rise and fall of psychoanalysis has been traced to Jewish influence. He then expands on Salberg's article by reviewing the relationship between circumcision and castration and considers the impact of Freud's Jewish identity and his anxiety about anti-Semitism on the structure of the psychoanalytic method and specifically on Freud's discovery of the “royal road.”     

On the origins of contemporary structural theory: an appreciation of "Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation"

Hartmann's monograph was one of four works which produced a major revision of psychoanalytic theory. Following a brief summary of the monograph, this essay assesses its impact on contemporary psychoanalytic thinking. It considers some confusions about and revisions of Hartmann's ideas and explores terrain first broached in this work which has become very influential but which has not yet been fully exploited. Lastly, this essay will consider Hartmann's hope that psychoanalysis would become a general psychology.     

Reflections on creative aspects of psychoanalytic diagnosing

This paper explores the therapeutic value of considering psychoanalytic diagnoses as co-constructions, and emphasizes two interrelated points: First, there are distinctions between medical, psychiatric, and psychoanalytic diagnoses, and similarly, a distinction may be drawn between diagnoses as nouns and the activity of diagnosing. Second, the author stresses that psychoanalytic diagnoses are theory bound. Various competing theories facilitate or interfere with the maintenance of an optimal analytic attitude. Some theories facilitate an analyst's urge to engage in the activity of diagnosing, which may reflect a destructive countertransference enactment. Analytic data in support of these premises is presented and discussed.     

One-person and two-person conceptions of attachment and their implications for psychoanalytic thought

There has been increasing interest among analysts in the possibilities of enriching psychoanalytic thought through fuller incorporation of attachment theory and research. This paper offers a clinical illustration of the ways in which attention to an attachment perspective can lead to novel and useful ways of addressing the patient’s issues. It also presents a number of cautions that it is necessary to be alert to if attachment thinking is to achieve its full potential in advancing psychoanalytic thought and practice. Conceptions of attachment and approaches to its study and clinical use actually vary quite substantially. Some are more one-person, static, and categorical. Others are more two-person, dynamic, and focused on the process whereby attachment patterns develop and are maintained over time. This paper explores the distinction between these two versions of attachment theory and research with two aims in mind – first, to refine our understanding of the potential role that attachment thinking can play in advancing the psychoanalytic paradigm; second, to utilize the insights achieved through examining the attachment paradigm to consider some broader issues in the construction of psychoanalytic theory more generally and its relational variant in particular.     

Is Anti-Semitism Currently Part of an Authoritarian Attitude Syndrome?

This study used data from the 1990 General Social Survey to investigate the extent to which anti-Semitism had syndromic relationships with other authoritarianism-related attitudes among American white non-Jews. The correlational and factor analytic connections between four measures of anti-Semitism and the other attitudes were generally weak. There were no clear-cut differences between respondents high and low in education in the strength of these connections. Moreover, when the scores of respondents favorable and unfavorable to Jews were compared on a number of authoritarianism-related scales, the differences were usually small. The results suggest a diminished role for anti-Semitism in authoritarian attitude syndromes.     

Catalysts for psychic change: Perspectives from contemporary psychoanalysis

This paper was given as the inaugural ‘Ellen Noonan Counselling Lecture’ on 3 July 2007, at Birkbeck College, University of London, and I have retained some of the spoken style of the original lecture. Since the 1960s, psychoanalytic models of change and growth have in themselves undergone radical changes. The aims of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic work are now less tied to a model of ‘health’ or ‘normality’ and more linked into processes that enable people to keep developing throughout life. The lecture examines some of the new theories of psychic change and growth from the contemporary Independent, Lacanian and post-Kleinian schools of psychoanalysis and, using clinical illustrations, explores the implications of these new theories for psychodynamic practice.     

Clouds Into Rain

Drawing from the work of Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion, this article explores projective and introjective dynamics in terms of Buddhist meditative methods and practice. Forms of meditations, such shamatha or calm-abiding, and vipashayana or analytic meditation, are linked to psychoanalytic dynamics in clinical terms. The interface between Buddhist meditation and psychoanalytic experience is explored with case material.     

Psychoanalysis as science

This work explores two “Copernican shifts” in the history of psychoanalysis. The first is Freud's recognition of the motives behind the constructions of psychic reality; the intrusion of the wish in the subject's perceptions. The author explores the roots of this recognition in the scientific tradition of Kant and Helmholtz, and suggests that these two predecessors were topical for Freud in their deviation from a theory of “immaculate perception”. The other theme of this work is what the author suggests is a contemporaneous “Copernican shift” in psychoanalytic theory. This shift consists in a recognition of the topicalness of the experience of reciprocity. Connections between this experience and the experience of the self are described, and implications for the theory of the psychoanalytic process are suggested.     

The research couple: a psychoanalytic perspective on dilemmas in the qualitative research interview

The relational, collaborative values of the qualitative research paradigm frequently require us to consider sharing the ongoing analysis of data with our research participants for comment and feedback. However, qualitative researchers may experience some tension between balancing participants' narrative accounts with their own analytic perspective and use of psychological theory. In using a psychoanalytic framework to explore this predicament, this paper adopts the notion of the ‘research couple', analogous to the psychotherapeutic ‘analytic couple', to consider possible oedipal dynamics within the qualitative research interview. The paper explores some of the emotional and ethical tensions in analysing and presenting research results and briefly discusses some implications for research training.     

Supervision and Analysis at a Crossroad: The Development of the Analytic Therapist: Discussion of Papers by Joan Sarnat and Emanuel Berman

This discussion of papers by Sarnat and Berman on psychoanalytic supervision explores the complex nature of the contemporary psychoanalytic supervisory relationship. It considers how developments in psychoanalytic theory and practice, reflecting relational, intersubjective, attachment, and field theory influences over the past 30 years, have changed the ways in which many analysts practice and theorize supervision. Contemporary supervisors attend not just to the patient being presented, or to the therapeutic dyad, but to the supervisory relationship itself as part of the clinical/supervisory frame of reference. Similarities and differences between therapy and supervision are considered.     

“I'll Have What She's Having”: Commentary on Paper by Karen E. Starr and Lewis Aron

This discussion utilizes a feminist discourse originating in the 1970s to reconsider Freud's famous question, “What do women want?” and from there explores some hidden dimensions in Starr and Aron's paper concerning female agency, sexuality, and the twists and turns of psychoanalytic theory and social conventions. Highlighting Rachel Maines's researches into the use of vibrators in medical treatment in particular, the discussion illuminates how social conventions function as powerful determinants that legislate what is seen and not seen, what is questioned and what is accepted—and ultimately what is considered psychoanalytic “bedrock.”