Psychoanalytic reflections on a particular form of language distortion.

A female obsessive patient communicated with her sister via a distortion of the Hebrew language, in which she masculinized the feminine gender second person pronoun and certain nouns. This treatment of words is analyzed in terms ranging from the concrete to the metaphoric uses of language. Lacan's emphasis on the meaning of the word is explored and is seen as an amplification rather than a replacement of the object relations approach to language and metaphor.     

Some linguistic considerations related to the issue of female orgasm.

The purpose of this paper has been to identify a linguistic issue that continues to cloud our thinking about the subject of female orgasm. A specific technical revision has been recommended, i.e., that female orgasms be described as either coital or noncoital. It has been suggested that we help our female patients to become aware of this vocabulary and that we let them know that the clitoral/vaginal dichotomy is incorrect. Systematic adherence to the correct vocabulary is therapeutic. The linguistic implications concerning the issue of female orgasm have been examined as they relate to both theory and practice. It has been argued that linguistic usage pertaining to female sexuality generally is the product of a patriarchal value structure and, as such, reflects patriarchal prejudices about female sexuality. It has been suggested that the apparent inability of many women to achieve coital orgasms is related to centuries-old cultural attitudes and that linguistic usages, particularly dichotomies, tend to perpetuate the prejudices that underlie many cultural attitudes. Freud's view of the role of language in clinical practice has been indicated. Finally, it has been suggested that the linguistic recommendation made in this paper can be viewed as implementing the process by which recent biological findings are used to strengthen psychoanalytic theory and practice.     

Psychoanalytic reflections on global warming and its relation to human omnipotence and ethical responsibility

Abstract

Global warming – reality or fantasy? Certainly, global warming is a dystopia linked to other catastrophes in human history, such as the Flood and Noah's Ark. Noah's belief in God saved his life and the life of his family. In our time, we need to sustain our belief in the human capacity to cooperate and survive. This is a necessary background when thinking of the future and analysing the border between fantasy and reality, between fear and paranoia, and in the process in which a new worldview takes form.     

Counseling implications of recent research on women

The growing concern for women and women's rights has been reflected in an increasing amount of research on women. As counselors may be unaware of the results of this research and its implications for counseling, the author surveys some of the recent investigations in four areas: counselor bias, demographic changes, sex differences, and sex-role stereotypes. After providing a review of the research in each area, she discusses implications of the findings. The author also makes specific suggestions for counselors who wish to confront some of the issues raised by recent research on women.     

Bridging the reductive and the synthetic: some reflections on the clinical implications of synchronicity

When Jung introduced the concepts of synchronicity and the psychoid unconscious, he expanded analytical psychology into decidedly uncanny territory. Despite the early interest shown by Freud, anomalous phenomena such as telepathy have become a taboo subject in psychoanalysis. Today, however, there is an increasing interest in thought transference and synchronicity, thus opening the way for a fruitful exchange between different psychoanalytical schools on their clinical implications. I propose to examine some of the ambiguities of Jung's thinking, to clarify how we define synchronicity, the relationship between synchronicities and parapsychological events, and their clinical significance. At the present moment, we are still unsure if such events should be considered as normal and a way of facilitating individuation, or as an indication of psychopathology in the patient or in the analyst, just as we are uncertain about the particular characteristics of the intersubjective field that can lead to synchronicities. Making use of the typology of mind‐matter correlations presented by Atmanspacher and Fach, and the distinction they draw between acategorial and non‐categorial states of mind, I will use two clinical vignettes to illustrate the different states of mind in analyst and analysand that can lead to synchronicities. In particular I will focus on the relationship between analytical reverie and synchronicity.     

Epistemological notes on recent studies of social perception

Among three possible avenues toward a good society — revolutionary Marxism, liberal‐democratic reform, and radical citizenship education — this paper examines and advocates the third. Societies are held to be ‘good’ so long as the Most Basic Rights are in fact enjoyed by all (i.e. the right (1) to stay alive, (2) to remain unmolested, and (3) to be free to develop one's potentialities). Some key propositions in ‘contract theory’ as represented by such diverse theorists as Socrates, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Tussman and Meiklejohn are discussed, and an alternative tradition, ‘freedom theory’, is sketched, with contributions from Socrates, Godwin, Thoreau, and Camus. An argument is then developed to the effect that the contract theorists have all contributed to the basis on which the contemporary ‘liberal make‐believe’ rests. This term refers to the myth that our society is democratic, i.e. that working (only) within the system of our constitutional procedures will or can lead toward a just society. Finally, it is argued that the highest priority in citizenship education is to destroy this liberal make‐believe, and that freedom theory provides a better foundation than contract theory in the struggle for human rights, and for mankind's survival.