REPORTING A DREAM ACCOMPANYING AN ENACTMENT IN THE TRANSFERENCE SITUATION

Patients with pathological organisations of the personality present the analyst with considerable technical difficulties. One of these problems arises from the fact that, in such patients, dreams frequently are not being used for communication of unconscious meaning, but instead for purposes of manipulation of the transference situation. They then represent attempts to identify the analyst with a part of the patient's self or with a particular internal object in order to draw him/her into collusive enactments. Following the work of Bion and Segal the paper presents a two-dimensional model in order to clarify the structure and use of dreams in this situation. The model may serve as a background orientation for the analyst in the clinical situation, as is subsequently illustrated in a detailed clinical sequence with a borderline patient. To conclude, the author suggests that whenever tendencies towards acting in are predominant, the interpretation of the enactment should generally be given preference over the interpretation of the dream content. The possible advantages and disadvantages of both strategies of interpretation are discussed. Finally, the author highlights consequences that arise when dealing with countertransference.     

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS A REANALYSIS OF CHUANG TZUS BUTTERFLY DREAM

Chuang Chou's Butterfly Dream is perhaps the most well-known and widely studied passage in the Chuang Tzu . It is also one of the most slippery with regard to its meaning. In this paper, I have proposed that the meaning of this passage can be clarified when the passage is recognized as an embodiment of Chuang Tzu's main thane and the double-bind method of instruction which is found throughout the second chapter of the Chuang Tzu. Understood as such, the passage stands as the quintessential example of this theme and teaching style, pressing the reader to transcend the limits of dualistic thinking and awaken in the fullest sense of the word. When viewed from this vantage point, the perplexing nature of the passage dissolves and its beauty and profundity shine through as never before.     

DREAM DIAGNOSTICS: FRITZ MORGENTHALER'S WORK ON DREAMS

The unique approach to dreams of Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler (1919–1984) is presented and discussed. Although rarely discussed in the English‐speaking psychoanalytic world, this approach is very alive in German‐speaking countries. Focusing on the distinction between the remembered hallucinatory experience of dreamers and the event of telling dreams within psychoanalytic sessions, Morgenthaler made two major innovations: first, he proposed a new understanding and handling of associations to dreams, and second, he offered what he called dream diagnostics as an instrument with which to integrate both resistance and transference into clinical work with dreams.     

DREAM BODIES AND PERIPATETIC PRAYER: READING BONAVENTURE's ITINERARIUM WITH CERTEAU

The erstwhile sedentary Parisian theologian, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, traveled extensively throughout Europe after his election as Minister General of the Minorite Order in 1257. In the fall of 1259 he arrived on Mount La Verna in Tuscany. As he ruminated on the stigmatized flesh of Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure composed the classical mystical text, Itinerarium mentis in Deum. Utilizing Michel de Certeau's work on prayer, travel narratives and spatial practices, this essay explores how Bonaventure rereads the story of the Poverello in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum as a mystic narrative of peripatetic prayer.     

AFFECT,SYMPTOM, FANTASY,DREAM: CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A symptom being studied in the process of analysis can be seen as not unlike the unconscious affect it sprang from. The author presents a case in which a symptom, premature ejaculation, was analogous to the unconscious affect of guilt, which itself seemed to be a premature defensive transformation of a deeper current of anger. Guilt was interpreted as if it were a psychic premature ejaculation, a defensive derailment of anger. Fantasy and dream seemed to be engaged in similar transformations, with a fantasy of “premature incarceration” not unlike the symptom itself in its analogous functioning. Analysis of affect, symptom, fantasy, and dream in complex, integrative analytic process led not only to resolution of the symptom itself, but also to a deeper understanding of the mind's complex functioning in general.     

WITHSTANDING TRAUMA: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMMA ECKSTEIN'S CIRCUMCISION TO FREUD'S IRMA DREAM

The author considers the medical rationale for Wilhelm Fliess's operation on Emma Eckstein's nose in February 1895 and interprets the possible role that this played in Freud's dream of Irma's injection five months later. The author's main argument is that Emma likely endured female castration as a child and that she therefore experienced the surgery to her nose in 1895 as a retraumatization of her childhood trauma. The author further argues that Freud's unconscious identification with Emma, which broke through in his dream of Irma's injection with resistances and apotropaic defenses, served to accentuate his own “masculine protest”. The understanding brought to light by the present interpretation of Freud's Irma dream, when coupled with our previous knowledge of Freud, allows us to better grasp the unconscious logic and origins of psychoanalysis itself. 1     

A Naturalistic A Priori

Philosophical Studies -     

A Counterexample to A

The Direct Argument is an important argument for demonstrating that moral responsibility is incompatible with determinism because it makes no presuppositions about the nature of free will. One of the inference rules employed in the Direct Argument is rule A: If a proposition is broadly logically necessary, then it is true and no one is, nor ever has been, even partially morally responsible for the fact that the proposition is true. While inference rule A is assumed by all parties to the debate, I demonstrate that the rule is invalid.