The theory of games and psychoanalysis

The theory of games and psychoanalysis, traditionally, have gone separate conceptual ways. It is the point of this paper that a careful comparative look will reveal, in addition to the many imposing differences, an undeniable overlap suggesting an unsuspected dialectical relationship.     

The premodern and the postmodern: Some parallels,with special reference to Hinduism

Insofar as the postmodern exists, it is held to represent a break with the modern, a break no less radical than that of the modern with the premodern. In this paper I point to certain similarities between on the one hand what are said to be key aspects of the postmodern and on the other hand the premodern. It may well be fruitful to look for further parallels on either side of modernity.     

A generalization of the Yule-Simon model,with special reference to word association tests and neural cell assembly formation

A generalization of the Yule-Simon model is suggested and such related questions as inversion problems and nonequilibrium behavior are solved. The generalization follows the work of Haight and Jones (Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 1974, 11, 237–244) and thus special reference is made to word association tests. Some new possible applications of the presented model are offered, namely, in the field of neural cell assemblies.     

The contribution of ego psychology to understanding the process of termination in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy

Ego psychology is presented as an integrated psychoanalytic developmental theory, including a theory of object relations. The process of termination is employed as one of the many possible illustrations of the usefulness of this theory. Termination is regarded as a process that pervades the treatment from the outset, rather than as the final phase of treatment only, because the treatment process, whether psychoanalysis or psychotherapy, includes continuous promotion of ever-increasing autonomy. Ideally, by the time termination proper takes place, maximum autonomy has been attained. To the definition of autonomy as intersystemic, involving relative independence of the ego from the drives (and from the super-ego), an object-relations dimension is added which extends that definition to include an intrasystemic consideration--namely, relative independence of the self-representation from the object representations. Especially in the treatment of the borderline conditions is the intrasystemic factor cogent because borderline states are characterized by varying degrees of incompletely differentiated self- and object representations. The objective, in the psychoanalysis of neurosis, where self- and object constancy already exist to a large degree, is ego autonomy in the intersystemic sense. In the psychotherapy of the borderline conditions, the objective is greater differentiation of the self-representation from the object representations.     

The working alliance and psychoanalysis in theory and practice]

The author points out a remarkable discrepancy between the concept of work in the practice of psychoanalysis, especially in the concept of the working alliance (Greenson), and the concept of work included in the dreamwork.