Superego distortions and self-attack

Some people demand an unachievable level of self-perfection, and experience extremely harsh self-criticism when they inevitably fall short of this impossibly high standard. As a result of early trauma or neglect, patients who have internalized part-objects that are particularly responsive to aggression also appear to lack supportive introjects which could normally serve to counterbalance innate aggressivity. The resultant superego malformations are overly harsh and charged with self-destructive intent. Self-attack may range from guilt-ridden self-loathing to physical assault on the body. Suicide is viewed as restorative and survivable. Treatment interventions include superego analysis as a way to identify internalized self-attack, disentangle organized self-destructive elements and support counter-balancing forces for affect tolerance.     

Trauma,perversion and marital bond

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study in the clinic the incidence of so-called perverse phenomena in relationships, in order to find out when these phenomena depend on a perverse organization and when they are only a kind of erotic game between the couple, in both hetero- and homosexual aspects. The first difficulty was to find a definition of “perversion” shared by the authors who have carried out research on the subject and consequently to determine what characterizes a perverse marital bond. In contrast to neurosis, which can be defined by the use of the repression mechanism, the mechanism of disavowal is not exclusive for perversion since it can be found even in other psychical arrangements. Is it, then, a structure or a psychological organization? It is also considered to be a “truth” in psychoanalysis that the pervert cannot be analyzed. But is it the pervert who cannot be analyzed, or is it the analyst who cannot bear listening to him? Do the theoretical references of the analyst not give sufficient theoretical support to maintain his listening? This paper presents the hypothesis that perversion is an attempt – always a frustrated one, and for this reason indefinitely repeated – to elaborate a trauma in which the pervert, identified with the traumatic agent, touches a point equally traumatic for his partner, turning the partner into an object of enjoyment. This arrangement allows the pervert, at least in his imagination, to leave the suffered trauma behind, adopting towards the object a position of activity and domination. Identifying with the aggressor, he leaves his partner paralyzed in the traumatic point, a situation that he knows all too well.

dos Reis Filho JT, et al Trauma, Perversion und eheliche Bande

Der Artikel untersucht klinische Fällen von sogenannter Perversion in Beziehungen, mit dem Ziel herauszufinden, wann es sich um eine perverse Organisation und wann es sich lediglich um eine spezielle Art von erotischem Spiel zwischen dem Paar handelt, dies sowohl in hetero- wie in homosexuellen Beziehungen. Die erste Schwierigkeit war, eine für alle Autoren akzeptable Definition von Perversion zu finden. Alle hatten Erfahrung in Forschung in diesem Gebiet und mussten sich auf Vorstellungen einigen, wodurch eine perverse eheliche Beziehung gekennzeichnet ist. Im Gegensatz zur Neurose, gekennzeichnet ausschliesslich von Verdrängungsmechanismen, kommt Ablehnung nicht ausschliesslich bei der Perversion vor sondern auch bei anderen psychischen Strukturen. Ist Perversion demnach eine psychische Struktur oder eine psychologische Organisation? Es wird auch als erwiesen betrachtet, dass ein Perverser nicht analysiert werden kann. Aber, ist es wirklich der Perverse, der nicht analysiert werden kann? Ist es nicht vielleicht der Analytiker, der es nicht ertragen kann, dem Perversen zuzuhören? Gibt der theoretische analytische Hintergrund des Analytikers ihm möglicherweise nicht genug Unterstützung, um das Zuhören aufrechterhalten zu können? Dieser Aufsatz vertritt die Hypothese, dass die Perversion ein unaufhörlich wiederholter, immer misslingender Versuch ist, ein Trauma aufzuarbeiten. Der Perverse ist identifiziert mit dem Täter im damaligen Trauma. Er trifft einen traumatisierten Punkt beim Partner und macht aus ihm ein Objekt seiner Lusterfüllung. Dieses Arrangement erlaubt dem Perversen-wenigstens in seiner Phantasie – das von ihm erlittene Trauma hinter sich zu lassen, indem er gegenüber dem Objekt eine Position der Aktivität und Dominanz einnimmt. Identifiziert mit dem Aggressor belässt er seinen Partner gelähmt am traumatischen Punkt-eine Situation, die er nur allzu gut an sich selbst kennt.

dos Reis Filho JT et al. Trauma, perversión y el vínculo marital

El propósito del presente trabajo es estudiar en la clínica la incidencia de los cada vez más llamados fenómenos perversos en las relaciones, para descubrir cuando este fenómeno depende de una organización perversa y cuando se trata de un tipo de juego erótico en las parejas, tanto en sus aspectos homosexuales como heterosexuales. La primera dificultad fue encontrar una definición de perversión compartida por los autores estudiosos de este tema y consecuentemente determinar las características de un vínculo marital perverso. En contraste con la neurosis que puede ser definida por el uso del mecanismo de la represión, el mecanismo de la negación no es característico de la perversión únicamente sino que se puede también encontrar en otras organizaciones psíquicas. ¿Se trata entonces de una estructura o de una organización psicológica? Se considera también que en psicoanálisis, es cierto que se trata al perverso como inanalizable. Bueno, ¿es el perverso el que no es analizable o es el psicoanalista que no puede soportar escucharlo? Acaso las referencias teóricas del analista no ofrecen suficientes soportes teóricos para mantener la escucha? Este trabajo presenta la hipótesis de que la perversión es un intento – siempre frustrado, y por lo mismo indefinidamente repetido- para elaborar un trauma en el que el perverso está identificado con el agente traumático, tocando un punto igualmente traumático en su pareja, convirtiendo a su pareja en objeto de su disfrute. Este arreglo permite al perverso, al menos en su imaginación, dejar atrás el trauma sufrido, adoptando con su objeto una posición de actividad y dominación. Identificándose con el agresor, deja a su pareja paralizada en el punto traumático, situación que el perverso sabe muy bien.     

Impasse and the interpretation of perversion

This article presents a case study of a year of psychotherapeutic work by a female and male therapist with a 14-year-old boy born with ambiguous genitalia. His mother was also present in the sessions at the request of Zak. We describe the early trauma surrounding Zak's birth and the subsequent desertion of a violent father. We present the catalogue of medical interventions he received to re-construct his genitals. Now at the age of 14 years Zak is entering into a chemically induced puberty. His mother had a version of an internal couple at war, where the male was viewed as useless and with suspicion. This view served to distort her capacity to bear Zak's condition and dovetailed with his phantasy of a monstrously violent and destructive male. Thus the artificial shove into manhood for Zak was filled with terror. The induced puberty was felt more like an attack and he acted out through resistance to intervention and non-compliance. This organisation created in him a state of thoughtlessness and despair, which we propose parades itself as a ‘secondary handicap’ (Sinason, Mental Handicap and the Human Condition, Free Association, London, 1992). Our joint work as a couple with Zak and his mother stood in opposition to their internal structures and provided an experience of a different kind of coupling: an opportunity to observe a cooperatively working couple who helped give words to the anxieties they brought. We trace Zak's attachment to and internalisation of a thinking couple, which paralleled both his ability to become more expressive and a reduction in acting out his aggression. The work aimed to promote in Zak a level of emotional development that was commensurate with his physical development. The construction of genitals and a lifetime of testosterone injections alone will not allow Zak to grow into the man he can be. We will attempt to explore the basis of these structures to demonstrate that the work provided the opportunity for Zak to reflect upon and express his terror, and to turn to other people to seek support, help and advice.     

Creativity,perversion and the violations of expectations

Abstract

Violations of expectations provide a motive for both creativity and perversion. The term “violations of expectations,” derived from empirical studies of early development, includes surprise, shock, betrayals of trust, as well as the possession of extraordinary talents. In the creative area, violations of expectations are illustrated through aspects of the life and work of Marc Chagall and Richard Wagner, and in perversion through the lives and actions of serial killers.

Lachmann FM. Kreativität, Perversion und die Verletzungen von Erwartungen

Verletzungen von Erwartungen liefern ein Motiv für beides: Kreativität und Perversion.Diese Benennung, aus empirischen Untersuchungen früher Entwicklung abgeleitet, schließt sowohl Überraschung, Schock, Verrat von Vertrauen ein wie auch die Verfügung über außergewöhnliche Talente. Im kreativen Bereich werden Verletzungen von Erwartungen durch Aspekte von Leben und Werk von Chagall und Richard Wagner illustriert und im Bereich der Perversionen durch Leben und Aktionen von Serien-Mördern.

Lachmann FM. Creatividad, perversión y violación de las expectativas.

La violación de las expectativas provee un motivo para ambas, la creatividad y la perversión. Este término, derivado de estudios empíricos sobre el desarrollo temprano, incluye sorpresa, shock, revelación de la verdad, así como la posesión de talentos extraordinarios. En la creativa violación de expectativas se ilustran aspectos de la vida y del trabajo de Marc Chagall y Richard Wagner y en la perversión a través de sus vidas y acciones de asesinos en serie.     

The analyst's excitement in the analysis of perversion

The author believes that unconscious sexual excitement in the transference and countertransference is an especially problematic aspect of the analysis of perverse character pathology and that perverse sexual gratifi cation deserves a more prominent position in the clinical theory of analyzing perversion than that which has been assigned tacitly through analysts' routine focus on the defensive and destructive dynamics of perversion. He presents clinical material from the analysis of a perverse patient that illustrates the role of excitement in the transference perversion established in this analysis; and he asserts that gratifying perverse enactments occurring in the transference perversion can appear not only as conscious or unconscious excitement in the transference but also, at times most clearly, as the analyst's excitement. The author suggests that using a clinical theory that supports the analyst in understanding his excited responses as perverse countertransferences-i.e. evoked excitement complementary to the sexual component of a perverse transference-will assist him in locating and thinking about gratifying, perverse excitement in the transference where it is most usefully analyzed. Finally, he discusses some of the reasons why analysts might deny, suppress or otherwise avoid perverse countertransferences and in so doing contribute to sustaining perverse resistances.     

FILM REVIEW: Dogville: A parable on perversion1

The authors approach Lars Von Trier's fi lm Dogville in the light of contemporary psychoanalytic concepts on perversion. The perverse functioning appears at three levels in the fi lm. First of all in the content of the story: a seemingly masochistic victim stirs up the sadism of the people around her before the scenario turns full circle. As for the formal aspects, the producer subtly hides some data with the result that our perception of reality is distorted. Finally, the viewer is led fi rst to identify with a moral position before becoming, through identifi cation, an accomplice of the sadistic triumph of the so‐called victim.     

A psychoanalytical phenomenology of perversion1

After stating that the current tasks of psychoanalytic research should fundamentally include the exploration of the analyst's mental processes in sessions with the patient, the author describes the analytical relation as one having an intersubjective nature. Seen from the outside, the analytical relation evidences two poles: a symmetric structural pole where both analyst and patient share a single world and a single approach to reality, and a functional asymmetric pole that defines the assignment of the respective roles. In the analysis of a perverse patient, the symmetry‐asymmetry polarities acquire some very particular characteristics. Seen from the perspective of the analyst's subjectivity, perversion appears in the analyst's mind as a surreptitious and unexpected transgression of the basic agreement that facilitates and structures intersubjective encounters. It may go as far as altering the Aristotelian rules of logic. When coming into contact with the psychic reality of a perverse patient, what happens in the analyst's mind is that a world takes shape. This world is misleadingly coloured by an erotisation that sooner or later will acquire some characteristics of violence. The perverse nucleus, as a false reality, remains dangling in mid‐air as an experience that is inaccessible to the analyst's empathy. The only way the analyst can reach it is from the ‘periphery’ of the patient's psychic reality, by trying in an indirect way to lead him back to his intersubjective roots. At this point, the author's intention is to explain this intersubjective phenomenon in terms of metapsychological and empirical research‐based theories. Finally, some ideas on the psychogenesis of perversion are set forth.     

超我:他律内化的理想类型——弗洛伊德的道德理论及其意义

弗洛伊德认为道德产生于人的本能与现实之间的矛盾,良心是人自身反对自身的斗争,道德的产生意味着人自身的本能等感性力量得不到发展。良心的存在与维持,依赖于外在的权威力量的存在。弗洛伊德的超我是他律的内化这一道德模式的理想类型,是对此类道德模式的一种理论建构。     

A Case Illustration of Combined Treatment Using a Psychodynamic Group for Women Sexual Abuse Survivors to Address and Modify Self-Punitive Superego Trends

Adults with childhood sexual abuse histories tend to experience severe states of guilt and shame related to their abuse, especially when the parent or caretaker had failed to intervene. In the absence of protective and loving interventions aimed at helping the child understand what happened, the adult survivor may feel inordinately culpable for the traumas rendered, as well as for resulting sequelae which may include revictimizations and victimizations of others. Homogeneous psychodynamic groups can address and modify primitive and punitive aspects of superego functioning and reduce feelings of shame and guilt. These groups also facilitate the development of benign superego functioning, thereby helping the patients become empathic toward their pasts and responsible for their current lives. While this article focuses on women, the author believes similar principles may also be applied in treatment with men.     

On psychic elements in a case of autistoid perversion

The paper explores the formation of psychic elements from an epistemological point of view, drawing on the work of Bion to examine a clinical case of autistoid perversion. Distinguishing the qualification of psychic elements from the realization of pre‐conceptions, the paper argues that psychical elements are constituted through a mutually shared experience of presence, and so they should be understood in a paradoxical way – through being‐O and transformations into K. These ideas are explored via a clinical case concerning a patient with an autistoid–perverse organization. The patient had been denied any bodily contact with her parents during her first year of life due to an infection; in later life she exhibited an autistoid coprophilic perversion. During the course of her treatment, as it became possible to break down the autistoid organization, the nameless contents surfaced in a mutually shared experience of presence. The analyst was able to hold on to their meaning, which was unavailable to the patient. The absent analyst, however, turned into the mother who ‘put the child down’ and was experienced by the patient as a suicidal threat. In being‐O, the analyst was able to endure the paradox of being the one who ‘put her down’ in order not to put her down; the paradox of being‐O functioned as a container for the destructive objectal dimension of the state of ‘being put down’.     

A metasynthesis of published case studies through Lacan's L‐schema: Transference in perversion

Transference in perversion is characterized by specific problems such as a defiant and polemic attitude, erotic transference, projections, and aggression. Such transference poses particular problems in the treatment of perversion and might render analytical work with these patients impossible. The authors propose that Lacan's L‐schema can contribute to separating productive from counterproductive aspects of transference as it distinguishes between an Imaginary and a Symbolic dimension in transference. In this meta‐synthesis of 11 published case studies on sexual perversion, patterns of transference are analysed. On the Imaginary dimension, the authors found that patients with perversion tend to (un)consciously engage the analyst in a relationship characterized by identification, fusion and rivalry. On the Symbolic dimension, they found that perverse patients are able to question their motives, lapses, symptoms, and subjective identity. The thematic analysis revealed the importance of the position of the analyst in this work, which is described within the L‐schema as being the representative of the otherness in the Other. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for further research are outlined.     

On the development of a benign superego- thoughts arising from psychoanalytical work with children and grownups

ABSTRACT

The human psyche unfolds through the internalization of the presence of the object; little by little the child makes the functions and characteristics of the object her own. Part of the internalization of the primary objects result in the superego formation. When the internalized object is reliably present, protecting and need fulfilling the superego will be formed into a benign inner structure, which has self-observing, self-regulatory and ideal forming functions. A good internal object lays the basis for a well- functioning and protective superego, whereas an object experienced as too distant and not there when needed results in internalizations which build a harsh and persecuting superego. The focus in this article is on the development of a benign superego.     

Perverse relationships: The perspective of the perpetrator

The author examines the theme of perverse relationships within the couple, focusing on the question of men's maltreatment of their female partners, particularly in the psychological sense. Various aspects of the perpetrator's personality and relational style are described. The author takes as her starting point and discusses in depth the concepts of narcissistic perversion (Racamier, 1992) and relational perversion (Pandol, 1999), considered useful for understanding and identifying this type of pathology. She postulates that maltreating behaviour, in fact, originates from the encounter of particularly non–empathic relational styles which are typical of certain personalities (mainly, but not exclusively, of the narcissistic disorder) with perversity, that is, perversion, understood as a character trait. The author makes a distinction between relational perversion and sado–masochistic relationship, and presents a clinical picture deriving from the analysis of a man who maltreats his companion, in order to shed light on the above–mentioned aspects, touching on some problems arising in the analysis of such patients. In conclusion, she considers some aspects of the experience of victims of maltreatment.     

Pentheus rather than Oedipus: On perversion,survival and analytic ‘presencing’1

Following an introductory review of the main developments in the psychoanalytic thinking on perversion, the author focuses on her own understanding of perversion and its treatment, based on the psychoanalytic treatment of patients with severe sexual perversions. This paper uses the term ‘autotomy’ (borrowed from the fi eld of biology) to describe perversion formation as an ‘autotomous’ defence solution involving massive dissociative splitting in the service of psychic survival within a violent, traumatic early childhood situation; thus, a compulsively enacted ‘desire for ritualised trauma’ ensues. The specifi c nature of the perverse scenario embodies the specifi c experiential core quality of the traumatic situation. It is an actual repetition in the present of the imprint of a past destructive experience which is pre‐arranged and stage‐managed; it thus encounters haunting scenes of dread or psychic annihilation while, at the same time, controlling, sanitising and disavowing them. Hence, the world of severe perversion is no longer oedipal, but rather the world of Pentheus, Euripides's most tragic hero‐a world dominated by a mixture of a mother's madness, devourment, destruction and rituals of desire. According to this view, the (diffi cult) psychoanalytic treatment of perversion focuses on patient‐analyst interconnectedness‐brought about by the analyst's ‘givenness to being present’ or ‘presencing’‐at a deep, primary level of contact and impact (the emphasis being on the ontological dimension of experience). This evolving therapeutic entity creates and actualises a new, alternative experiential‐emotional reality within the pervert's alienated world, eventually generating a change in the perverse essence. The author illustrate this approach with three clinical vignettes.     

The Superego and the Two-System Model

The authors note that Freud's clinical struggle with the sadomasochism of his patients led directly to his theory of the superego, which in turn affected his ideas on sadomasochism. The authors use their dual-track model of two systems of self-regulation—the “closed,” sadomasochistic, omnipotent system and the “open,” competent, loving, reality-attuned system—to trace the origins, development, and functions of the “closed” and “open” superego. They suggest that the application of this model will help restore the importance of the superego in psychoanalytic theory and technique, and they provide clinical illustrations from the analysis of an older adult.     

Perverse dreams and dreams of perversion

This paper (1) posits the occurrence of perverse dreams as a type of mental phenomenon in the constellation of perverse processes; (2) considers manifest dreams of frank perversion as a type of perverse dream within the class of perverse dreams as a whole; (3) relates the subtype of perverse dreams without manifest perversions to the occurrence of perverse defenses and the development of a perverse transference; and (4) suggests that consideration to perverse dreams in the psychoanalytic process finds application in identifying and differentiating perverse defenses from neurotic and other characterologic patterns; in identifying and tracing the vicissitudes of difficult perverse transference-countertransference constellations; and in furthering perverse patients' recognition and understanding of particularly troublesome and seemingly intractable issues in their psychic makeup. Clinical material illustrates perverse dreams and their usefulness in the often arduous process of analyzing perverse defenses.     

Superego: an attachment perspective

With the help of attachment theory and research, the paper attempts to broaden and build on classical and current views on the superego. Attachment theory's epigenetic approach and the concept of the subliminal superego are described. The superego, it is argued, is as much concerned with safety as sex. The superego is 'heir', not just to the Oedipus complex or Klein's pre-oedipal constellation, but also to the attachment relationship. Under favourable developmental conditions a 'mature superego' emerges, facilitating, in the presence of an internal secure base, maturational boundary crossings towards adult sexuality. In the light of the above, the paper reviews Lear's updating of Strachey's model of psychic change and explores the concept of transgression in relation to the 'professional superego', its development and maturation. Theoretical arguments are illustrated with clinical examples.     

Thoughts on Rigoletto

The author discusses the traditional interpretations of the principal dramatis personae in Verdi's Rigoletto, suggesting that the opera expresses the composer's unconscious but highly perceptive and intuitive exploration of: (i) paranoid and perverse father-daughter oedipal dynamics as enacted between Rigoletto and Gilda; (ii) a folie-à-deux sado-masochistic relationship between Rigoletto and the Duke; (iii) the avoidance of conscious guilt and responsibility for Rigoletto's part in the tragedy through the rejection of insight achieved via massive projection, an addiction to mania, and perversion. In this respect Rigoletto is compared with King Lear. Some technical aspects of Verdi's compositional style employed to portray the contrasting characters of the protagonists are analysed. The paper also touches on Verdi's own possible unconscious (as well as conscious) investment in this particular opera, noting similarities between Verdi's portrait of the tragic, hunchback jester and his own self-depiction. The author notes similarities and contrasts between his analysis of the opera and recent papers by Hudson (1992),Tarnopolsky (1995)and Bergstein (2003)on the same subject.