Reflections on Freud's reaction to the death of his mother

Freud's reaction to the death of his mother as he reported it in letters to Ernest Jones and Sandor Ferenczi is discussed. The sense of liberation and the absence of grief which he emphasized is given some analytic consideration. An attempt is then made to gain an understanding of Freud's somewhat cryptic remark that a change in the "values of life" in the "deeper layers" will have occurred following his mother's death. His discussion of these concepts in Civilization and Its Discontents, which was published just before her death, is utilized. The question is raised of whether the death of his mother may have been related to the change in Freud's view of the significance of the preoedipal mother which he presented in "Female Sexuality," the first paper he wrote after her death.     

Reflections on death and mourning in relation to Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend

Both Bion and Jung indicate in their theories of oscillating cycles of coniunctio/mortificatio and Ps<-->D that the toleration of psychic states of disintegration is both dangerous and essential to new development and that change is resisted and feared. Our fear of growth and development is described by Jung in the mortificatio phase of the coniunctio cycles where movement can be forward towards coniunctio or backwards into disiunctio and by Bion in his delineation of a grid, with its negative grid, where the normal direction of growth may be permanently reversed. Both highlight the inevitability of elements destructive to thought being present in the psyche and the need to know these forces. This paper relates their ideas to the difficult processes of mourning explored by Dickens in his novel Our Mutual Friend.     

Reflections on the Reflections

Pastoral Psychology -     

Reflections on Supervision

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - This paper explores basic tasks involved in the supervisory process, and frequent problems in carrying out these tasks. Basic tasks include clarification of...     

Reflections on aum shinrikyo

Abstract

On March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, the fanatical Japanese cult, released lethal sarin gas on five Tokyo subway trains, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,000. This article explores some of the psychological currents involving the guru, Shoko Asahara, his disciples, and the guru-disciple relationships within a violent theology. It also raises more general questions about groups crossing a threshold from anticipating Armageddon to attempting to bring it about.     

Reflections on Christian Education

During the school year of 1994–1995 students (n = 1611) attending Seventh-day Adventist high schools in the United States of America completed questionnaires designed to assess their HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and behaviors. AIDS-related behavioral intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control were also assessed according to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1989). The rates of the sexual and drug-use behaviors measured in this population are lower than for students who attend public high schools. Increased risk for participating in sexual intercourse, the key AIDS-risk behavior in youth, was associated with the students' substance use and also by their parents' use of substances. Measurements designed in accord with the Theory of Planned Behavior revealed that students most relied on spiritual strength and encouragement from teachers to manage their control over premarital sexual intercourse.