A Psychoanalyst on His Own Couch: A Biography of Vamık Volkan and His Psychoanalytic and Psychopolitical Concepts,by Ferhat Atık,Phoenix Publishing House,Bicester, Oxfordshire, 2019, 163 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Haunted by the Ghost in the Machine. Commentary on “The Spirituality of Human Consciousness: A Catholic Evaluation of Some Current Neuro-scientific Interpretations”

Metaphysical and epistemological dualism informs much contemporary discussion of the relationships of science and religion, in particular in relation to the neurosciences and the religious understanding of the human person. This dualism is a foundational artifact of modern culture; however, contemporary scientific research and historical theological scholarship encourage a more holistic view wherein human personhood is most fittingly understood as an emergent phenomenon of, but not simply reducible to, evolutionary and developmental neurobiology.     

Critique of “the dream in group therapy: A reappraisal of unconscious processes in groups” by Peter J. Schlachet,Ph.D.

This commentary is on an article published inGROUP,16(4), 1992.     

The Spontaneous Generation of the Human in the “Heng Xian”

This essay argues that the “Heng Xian” bridges between two distinct discourses that were both prevalent in the late fourth century. One discourse focused on the origination of the natural world through a spontaneous process of differentiation, a position familiar from the Daodejing and “Tai yi sheng shui.” The other focused on the specific ways in which different kinds of things live, a position known primarily from Ru discussions centering on the concept of xing 性, the nature or spontaneous reactions of a particular kind of thing. The “Heng Xian” attempts to account for the specificity of human life—including language and social organization—while remaining within a naturalistic view grounded in spontaneity. The essay concludes by reflecting on what the “Heng Xian” tells us about the status of human institutions.     

“Ghosts in the Psychoanalytic Nursery”: Response to Lieberman & Harris

In this discussion, I elaborate on the question of why fear, per se, has been relatively absent from psychoanalytic dialogues, and of how to think about the relative primacy of fear, aggression, and infantile sexuality. In response to Harris, I consider some of the ways that contemporary neuroscience and evolutionary theory deepen this discussion. And, following Lieberman, I reflect on why it can be so difficult to hold and process our patients’ fear and trauma.     

A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Body in Today’s World,edited by Vaia Tsolas and Christine Anzieu-Premmereur,Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2018, 212 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Discussion of “The Ketamine Model of the Near-Death Experience: A Central Role for the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor,” by Earl L. R. Jansen

We review strengths and weaknesses of Karl Jansen's approach to the near-death experience (NDE). Strengths include his limited goals and avoidance of the trap of explaining all features of the NDE with his theory, although he surprisingly misunderstood our previously published position. Additionally, we applaud the possible intersection of psychological and biological theories, demonstrated in Jansen's biochemical explanations for the individualized variations in manifestation and adaptive role of the NDE. However, he failed to take into account the pitfalls in the use of analogy, modeling oversimplification, and in taking association as causality and causes as meaningful, in the arguments for his theory.     

A review of: “R.D. Laing: A divided self”

John Clay (1996) R.D. Laing: A Divided Self, London: Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 308, $20.00 (hb), $7.99 (pb)     

Book Review: Michael Balint. The renewal of the Budapest School,by Michelle Moreau Ricaud. Published in French by Editions Erès,Toulouse, May 2000, 290 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Hating the Ahmadiyya: the place of “heretics” in contemporary Indonesian Muslim society

Religious diversity and pluralism is commonly understood within the context of the relation between various religious traditions, not within a single religious tradition. This limitation of the boundary of religious pluralism could overlook the fact that conflict within a single tradition can be bitterer and more disastrous than conflict with other religions. In the last decade, for instance, the Ahmadis in Indonesia have become victims of constant attacks. This article, therefore, intends to study the place of the Ahmadiyya in the context of religious pluralism in Indonesia by answering the following questions: Why was the treatment of the Ahmadis in recent years by Muslims more vitriolic than their treatment of non-Muslims? What is the nature and quality of life for people who have been excluded from a ‘normal’ religious identity in a time when religious attachment is a necessary fact for that society? Why did the attacks on the Ahmadiyya occur in the present regime, not during the past authoritarian one? This article argues that the charge of heresy issued by Muslim institutions put the Ahmadiyya in liminal status; they are in the zone of indistinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. This makes them vulnerable to persecution since they have been deprived of their rights as Muslims, while their rights as non-Muslims are still suspended. Non-Muslims, particularly ahl al-kitāb (People of the Book), have been accepted theologically in Muslim society, but there is no place of tolerance for heretics. The rise of intolerance in Indonesia parallels the rise of religious conservatism after the fall of Suharto in 1998.