Psychoanalyse und Verbrechen

Foulkes’ paper on “Psycho-Analysis and Crime” was first published in 1943. Today, only parts of this paper are published in the Selected Papers (1990). Foulkes’ paper is part of the tradition of psychoanalytic work and psychoanalytically inspired social research in delinquent behaviour. The paper is of special interest for the development of Foulkes’ works as it seems to mark the transition from a Freudian psychoanalyst to the founder of Group Analysis.     

Bindungstheorie und Psychoanalyse

Bowlby’s attachment theory and more recent versions of it are examined from an epistemological viewpoint and subjected to questioning on whether they are in line with central psychoanalytic concepts. It is argued that Bowlby’s basic tenets regarding attachment theory, which later attachment theorists never seriously questioned, do not conform to scientific standards, and that psychoanalytic issues such as the dynamic unconscious, internal conflicts, the interaction between drive wishes and defence in establishing substitutive formations are either ignored or not treated in sufficient depth. In the light of this, the assertion that psychoanalytic criticism of attachment theory arose from mutual misunderstandings and is outdated nowadays stands the matter on its head: psychoanalytic criticism can only be regarded as outdated if either psychoanalysis, or attachment theory or both are misunderstood.     

Psychotraumatologie und Psychoanalyse

Ohne Zusammenfassung ¹ Forum Psychoanal (2005) 21:143–155.     

Sprache, Neurowissenschaften und Psychoanalyse

In this article some general thoughts on the application of language in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy will be expressed against the background of the most recent findings in linguistics, neurolinguistics and neuroscience. The conclusion is that consideration of the subsymbolic/symbolic linguistic development of a child and the affective coordination between child and environment is of fundamental importance in the psychotherapeutic relationship.     

Zeit und Zeitlosigkeit der Psychoanalyse

Time is a central category of psychoanalysis and a differential criterion against other forms of psychotherapy. The polarity of time and timelessness moulds not only the most important analytic notions, but the treatment too. Treatment means work in and on time and means production of the past. In the timeless, fulfilling moment of interpretation, of insight and emotional experience the therapeutic process is condensed to the time of the psychoanalysis. The close connection between time experience and early relationship experience is elaborated along the history of development and thereby, the relevance of integrable deprivations is highlighted. Thus, it is not surprising that psychopathologies are also time pathologies. Psychoanalysis should be the advocate of the experience of time against the increasing acceleration of life.     

Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie, Bildung und Erziehung

Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis form a contrast – in particular in German-speaking countries – comparable to that between education and “Bildung”: psychotherapy and education intentionally and purposefully influence the patient or pupil whereas psychoanalysis and “Bildung” pursue the ideal of a development process which is to a great extent free from outside influences. The present paper aims to show that these seemingly contrasting pairs have been artificially differentiated into extremes. Both are supposed to solve the following paradoxes: the educational paradox “How is freedom possible under constraint?” and the psychoanalytical paradox “How is independence possible under dependency?” It might, however, be possible to overcome the unfruitful contrast in both cases and to keep the feared paradox in abeyance.     

Behandlungs- und Kunstfehler in der Psychoanalyse

Failures and transgressions in psychoanalyses are nowadays more often published and also ascribed to mistakes made by the therapists. In German professional literature, however, no difference is made between treatment errors due to the special method and serious malpractice. The authors show in case studies transgressions in the psychoanalytic setting und discuss their causes and consequences.