The Role of the Ego in Jungian Individuation and Yogacara Buddhism’s Enlightenment

This article explores the Buddhist and Jungian approaches to the role of the ego in overcoming the limited (for Jung) or illusive (for Buddhists) sense of self rooted in ego-consciousness. Even though both Buddhists and Jung turn to the unconscious (for Jung) or the subliminal consciousness (for Buddhists) to overcome the limitations of the ego, their approaches are radically different. The Jungian ego seems to work diligently in order to transcend itself, whereas Buddhists believe that we can bypass the ego’s participation, namely, its rational analysis and interpretation, and can directly access the subliminal consciousness, alaya. In other words, Buddhists see the ego itself as the problem, or obstacle, in the path to Enlightenment whereas Jung ends up relying upon the active ego’s intervention to become the full Self via individuation. Understanding this substantial difference will lead us to reappraise the reciprocal relationship between the ego and the subliminal mind in both the Jungian theory of individuation and Buddhist enlightenment.     

Orientations of psychotic activity in defensive pathological organizations

The author reviews some clinical experiences of the treatment of personality disordered patients suffering from internal domination of ego functioning by a defensive pathological organization. In particular, the function and purpose of perverse, sadistic attacks by the organization on the ego are considered and questions pertaining to technique are raised. It is suggested that different forms of sadistic, subjugating activity by pathological organizations may denote differences in intent borne of the type and severity of the psychopathology of the individual. Patients with severe narcissistic psychopathology for whom object contact has become associated with the arousal of intense psychotic anxieties seem more likely to be subjected to an invasive, annihilatory imperative by the pathological organization, the purpose of which appears to be to obliterate the experience of contact with any differentiated object, to avoid emotion and to use coercion to enforce a primitive identification by the ego with the psychotic organization in the mind. Certain patients with less severe narcissistic psychopathology, yet for whom object contact can also be associated with the arousal of psychotic anxieties due to intense or persistent conflict with the object, sometimes expressed as organized sadomasochistic clinging to a punishing and punished object (for example, in certain borderline or depressed patients) exhibit sadistic attacks that serve less to annihilate object contact and more to intrusively control and punish the object. Observations of these phenomena have been made by a number of psychoanalysts in recent decades and these contributions are discussed. This paper is addressed primarily to the implications for technique with such patients, particularly a need for triangulation of their experiences of oppression in order to loosen the controls over the ego by the pathological organization.     

Western Psychology and Muslim Psychology in Dialogue: Comparisons Between a Qura’nic Theory of Personality and Freud’s and Jung’s Ideas

In this paper, comparisons are made between a newly developed Qura’nic theory of personality and the Freudian and Jungian theories of the mind. Notable similarities were found between the Freudian id, ego, superego and neurosis and the Qura’nic nafs ammarah besoa’ (evil-commanding psyche), a’ql (intellect), al-nafs al-lawammah (the reproachful psyche) and al-nafs al-marid’a (the sick psyche), respectively. Noteworthy resemblances were detected also between the Jungian concepts collective unconscious, archetypes, Self and individuation and the Qura’nic constructs roh (spirit), al-asmaa’ (the names), qalb (heart), and al-nafs al-mutmainnah (the serene psyche), respectively. These parallels, as well as the departure points, between the models are thoroughly discussed and analyzed. The comparisons performed in this paper open new avenues for dialogue between western models of the psyche and their Muslim counterparts, a dialogue that can enrich both perspectives and advance the field of psychology.     

Differentiating Ego Functions of Borderline and Narcissistic Personalities

This study investigated differences in ego functions of borderline and narcissistic personality disorders through examining responses to Rorschach structural and content variables. Reality testing, thought process, affective regulation, impulse control, and the defenses of splitting and grandiosity were examined from Rorschach protocols of 50 borderlines and 26 narcissists. The borderlines produced greater distortion in reality testing, p < .05; the narcissists produced more insidious thought process disturbance, p < .05; and higher functioning groups demonstrated greater control of impulses, p < .05. Borderlines in this sample demonstrated more affective constriction than the narcissists and used more splitting, p < .05; narcissists used more grandiosity, p < .05. Implications of this study are (a) ego functions mature inconsistently, (b) affective responsivity influences ego disorganization, and (c) level of functioning and IQ are related to the production of Rorschach variables.     

Differentiating ego functions of borderline and narcissistic personalities

This study investigated differences in ego functions of borderline and narcissistic personality disorders through examining responses to Rorschach structural and content variables. Reality testing, thought process, affective regulation, impulse control, and the defenses of splitting and grandiosity were examined from Rorschach protocols of 50 borderlines and 26 narcissists. The borderlines produced greater distortion in reality testing, p less than .05; the narcissists produced more insidious thought process disturbance, p less than .05; and higher functioning groups demonstrated greater control of impulses, p less than .05. Borderlines in this sample demonstrated more affective constriction than the narcissists and used more splitting, p less than .05; narcissists used more grandiosity, p less than .05. Implications of this study are (a) ego functions mature inconsistently, (b) affective responsivity influences ego disorganization, and (c) level of functioning and IQ are related to the production of Rorschach variables.     

Cross‐cultural structures of concentric and diametric dualism in Lévi‐Strauss’ structural anthropology: structures of relation underlying the self and ego relation?

The parallels between Jung's and Lévi-Strauss' concentric cross-cultural structures of the unconscious are highlighted. Lévi-Strauss' basic contrasts between concentric and diametric dualisms are developed into psychologically relevant differences regarding symmetry, connection and separation, and interaction between foreground and background structures respectively. These contrasts between concentric and diametric structures are applied as a common structural framework for understanding Jungian conceptions of the self, the ego and their relations, Freudian views of compensation and repetition in obsessional neurosis, and Winnicott's conception of a child's transitional object. Developing the contrasts between concentric and diametric structures reveals a compensatory relation between both structures. This supports an argument that concentric structures express the self and diametric structures express the ego in their mutual compensatory interrelation. Contrasting concentric with diametric structures challenges traditional Western logic, including Fordham's view that it is contradictory to treat the self as both centre and totality. It also develops an understanding of Jung's transcendent function which seeks to go beyond the ego-shadow opposition.     

A narcissistic defence against affects and the illusion of self-sufficiency.

A narcissistic defence against affects, unlike isolation, is a defence against an object relationship. Object relations are strengthened by the sharing of genuine affects so that the failure to share feelings or the presentation of false feelings creates distance between the self and other objects. The defence is similar to that of denial in that it entails a modification of the ego's own structure. We have suggested that this modification consists of a precocious but fragile establishment of a sense of self. The defence may occupy a sector of the personality or reflect a more massive structural arrest. When there is this structural arrest, we believe that this narcissistic defence forms the basis for the narcissistic character disorder described by Kohut and the false self of Winnicott. This precocious sense of self leading to an illusion of self-sufficiency may also be found in other disorders, including the borderline patient, but the borderline patient, in contrast, suffers from a failure of internalization which leads to object hunger in contrast to the denial of object need of the narcissistic disorder. We suspect that the environmental trauma that may contribute to the narcissistic disorder is less severe as compared to the borderline states and may consist of the mother's failure to accept the child's separateness and autonomy, resulting in a fear of the mother's intrusiveness. The fear of the maternal object's intrusiveness contributes to the relative inability to form a therapeutic alliance in the psychoanalysis of narcissistic character disorders. The analyst's interpretations are experienced as dangerous, not necessarily because of their content but due to the fear of the analyst's intrusive influence. Our understanding of the means of effecting therapeutic change must be modified in patients with narcissistic character disorders for, in contrast to the 'classical' neurotic, analytic progress is not obtained by means of interpreting the transference neurosis in the context of a working or therapeutic alliance. Although we acknowledge that the psychoanalysis of narcissistic disorders can lead to significant therapeutic gains, such analyses may prove to be interminable if the gains do not also result in the establishment of a transference neurosis and therapeutic alliance.     

Aesthetic experience

An initial clinical question, ‘Why does an analysand talk about his/her relationship with an aesthetic object?’ opens an investigation into the nature of aesthetic experience. Three principal aspects of the psychoanalytic approach are presented: sublimation, a Freudian concept concerning the vicissitudes of the drives; reparation, a Kleinian concept linked to depressive anxiety; and transformation, a concept of object‐relations theory about primitive ego‐states. The article discusses the psychic function of aesthetic feelings in mastering anxiety as related to ego, id and superego. The transformation of the experience of passivity is a common link underlying these aspects. Such transformation relies on tolerating ambiguous and contrary feelings within the self, fostered by contact with an aesthetic object. This balance can, however, be upset: two excessive forms of aesthetic experience ensue, namely, fascination and bewitchment. The first belongs to the experience of awe; the second can lead to claustrophobic anxiety. The initial clinical question requires an elaboration of aesthetic transference, a variant of the narcissistic transference, whereby the analysand invites the analyst to share his/her internal state as a common unspoken object.     

Envy and difference

This paper explores five examples of envy, examining the similarities and differences between the clinical situations. The theory relating to envy is extensively reviewed and a critique of the Kleinian position is offered, suggesting that the aversion to separation and difference is not only prior to, but also has explanatory precedence over, the functioning of envy. Kleinian examples are explored in this light. The experience of separateness and difference is understood to lead to a number of outcomes: envy, admiration, competitiveness, a sense of low self-esteem and inadequacy, or a fear of being envied. It is argued that the individual's particular personality organization and their associated relational pattern will determine their experience of envy. Examples of schizoid, borderline, narcissistic and hysteric functioning in relation to envy are examined in some depth. The link between these phenomena and the death instinct is touched on.     

Jung's shadow: negation and narcissism of the Self

The cave walls of prehistoric man record two contrasting hand impressions: the one positive - a direct imprint; the other negative - a blank defined by a halo of colour. Jung's disturbed, displaced contact with his mother led to a struggle in establishing an integrated sense of 'I'; instead to create a sense of Self he brilliantly contrived to illuminate the darkness around that blank impress. The resulting lifework, enhanced by Jung's multifarious capacities as artist and philosopher as well as physician, is deeply impressive; yet Winnicott (1964) in his review of Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1963) nevertheless alludes to Jung's 'own need to search for a self with which to know' (p. 450). Passages from the autobiography are considered that appear to corroborate Winnicott's contention that Jung had a 'blank', potentially psychotic, core. Yet it is also argued that the psychoanalytic mainstream has undervalued the subtlety and creativity of Jung's own intuitive response to his shadow and that a sympathetic appreciation of this can still valuably inform our contemporary approaches to narcissistic disorders, especially dissociation.     

A Strange Fire: an exploration of psycho‐spiritual development aided by Jungian analysis and Vedanta

This paper explores the process of psychological and spiritual development through a series of active imaginations arising from the author's ‘psycho‐spiritual quest’, a process of transformation in which the individual progressively frees themselves from the ego's identifications and may be afforded a vision of the ‘self as consciousness’, as described by Vedanta. The author describes how this quest was facilitated by the disciplines of Transcendental Meditation, Jungian analysis and Vedanta, and how these three disciplines can work together to foster psycho‐spiritual development. The paper aims to de‐mystify the actual experiences that can accompany these practices. The records of these active imaginations, tracing some key stages in this process, are then presented, with a commentary by Marcus West, linking them to Jung's concepts of ego and Self and recent understandings of consciousness and ego development. There is a discussion of Jung's conceptualizations of the ego and the Self and his rejection of the Vedantic understanding of the Self as consciousness. These views are then explored and a reconciliation is suggested through the understanding of the process of disidentification where the difference between Jung's view of the Self and that of Vedanta is understood to be due to the extent of disidentification from the contents of consciousness.     

Using psychoanalytic concepts to inform interpretations and direct interventions with a baby in working with infants and parents

Abstract

How can some classical Freudian concepts such as defense, transference, infantile sexuality, and the role of the body ego and superego in the first year of life be applied to help the analyst working with parent–infant dyads? The case of a newborn that could not look at her mother, who did not feel empathy towards this child conceived as a result of an egg donation, was understood using Winnicott’s notion of early superego and the lack of libidinal pleasure. The notion of defenses towards primitive anxiety and the role of unconscious maternal functioning were helpful in helping the child as well as the parents to regulate their interactions.     

Narcissism as motive

This essay proposes replacing the traditional concept of narcissism as derived from the theory of drives with a concept of narcissism that is concerned with motives and their correlative meanings-specifically, motives connected to self-organization, self-preservation, self-cohesion, self-valuation, and self-esteem. The reasons for and the metapsychological underpinnings of a motivationally based theory are discussed. This revised motivational view proposes that narcissistic dynamics can be preserved and articulated in exclusively motivational terms. Developmental aspects are explored, including formation and functioning of the ego ideal and self-esteem regulation. Implications for psychoanalytic technique are suggested in discussions of case material.     

The almost untreatable narcissistic patient

Clinical experience in the Personality Disorders Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College suggests that patients with borderline personality organization and a narcissistic personality disorder have a more serious prognosis than all other personality disorders functioning at the borderline level, and that those who in addition present significant antisocial behavior have an even worse prognosis (Clarkin, Yeomans, and Kernberg 1999; Stone 1990). This negative trend culminates in a group of practically untreatable patients with antisocial personality disorder, who represent the most severe cases of pathological narcissism. There are also patients with severe narcissistic personality disorder, functioning at an overt borderline level with significant antisocial features, but not presenting an antisocial personality disorder proper, who at times respond to treatment, while others do not. These patients are explored here, with a focus on particular psychotherapeutic techniques that have proven helpful, as well as on the limits of these technical approaches.     

Where East meets West: in the house of individuation

The psychological process of individuation as experienced in Jungian work may lead to states of consciousness that resemble advanced spiritual developments across religious traditions and cultures. This is where Westerners may reach a common ground with the East. In the essentials and with respect to the final goal there is little difference among the many ways to the self, even if the cultural features in the landscape are disparate. In late stage Jungian analysis and individuation and in what Erich Neumann calls ‘centroversion’, the personal and the impersonal aspects of the personality accumulate around the ego‐self axis to form a composite identity. In this complex structure the ego does not vanish but is joined to the impersonal archetypal levels of the psyche and identity thus becomes at once individual and archetypal. This is the third stage of conjunction as described by Jung in Mysterium Coniunctionis and it is identical to the type of consciousness depicted in the final scenes of Zen Buddhism's Ten Ox‐Herding Pictures.     

The specifi city of torture as trauma: The human wilderness when words fail1

The author attempts to situate the specifi city of torture‐understood as the product of political violence and of totalitarian states‐within the historical framework of the concept of trauma in psychoanalysis. When the mind and social ties are simultaneously affected, the intrapsychic and transpersonal aspects of the suffered damage intertwine in a complex and unique web. The author aims to dismantle the notion of victim, considering it both stigmatizing and inaccurate. The goal is not just to identify the after‐effects and the disabilities suffered by those affected by torture, but also to integrate their experiences and their narratives into a life project. Rather than individual psychopathology, this essay refl ects upon those phenomena of suggestion and hypnosis that are at work in human groups under ordinary conditions and that are exacerbated under social crises, following the Freudian axis developed in Group psychology and the analysis of the ego.     

CAN YOU THINK MY 'I'-THOUGHTS?

If tokens of 'I' have a sense as well as a reference the question immediately arises of what account to give of their sense. One influential kind of account, of which Gareth Evans provides the best developed instance, attempts to elucidate the sense of 'I' partly in terms of the distinctive functional role possessed by thoughts containing this sense ('I'-thoughts). Accounts of this kind seem to entail that my 'I'-thoughts cannot be entertained by anyone other than me, a consequence generally thought unacceptable. I defend it. I also justify a functional role account of the sense of 'I'. The result should be to make plausible an account of the sense of 'I' in terms of the functional role of 'I'-thoughts.     

The narrow use of the term ego in analytical psychology: the 'not-I' is also who I am

This paper(1) explores some aspects of the narrowness of Jung's usage of the term ego and the consequences which are understood to follow there from. Jung is understood to see the ego as a surface phenomenon and, essentially, as the focal point of consciousness, not recognizing its potential to function more broadly, deeply, and unconsciously. Furthermore, although he does recognize the ego as 'the total conscious personality' his use of the term frequently does not reflect that definition. Whilst Jung's analysis of the narrowly functioning ego is enlightening and groundbreaking, he treats this narrow functioning as if it is characteristic of the ego itself, ascribing any 'broad functioning' primarily to the Self. This narrow use of the term ego, and the corresponding use of the term Self, are understood to have significant consequences for clinical practice, including leading the analyst into an over-identification with the patient and a loss of the analyst's sense of self. It is also understood to lead to difficulties dealing with more disturbed individuals, to stuck and broken down analyses, to wear and tear on the analyst and, potentially, splits between the different schools of analytical psychology. These concerns all represent difficulties with working in the transference, and Jung's own experience of this is briefly explored.     

Suppose Freud had chosen Orestes instead

Abstract :  The paper argues that the story of Oedipus, however understood, conveys psychic truth of no greater or more central importance to human development than do the stories of many other myths. A distinction is made between sophisticated theories developed out of Freud's original concept of the Oedipus complex, and the adherence by some clinicians to his original sexual theory. The meaning of Sophocles' play Oedipus the King is found to lie in the clash between Oedipus' omnipotent narcissism ( hubris) and the power of the unconscious psyche, rather than in cross-generational sex. Emphasis is placed on the clinical usefulness of understanding all myths symbolically. The Oresteia by Aeschylus is offered as a story about pre-Oedipal (in the Freudian sense) psychic states. This trilogy shows symbolically the developing of an ego, the establishment of moral judgement and the integration of our shadow (the Furies). It also shows the parallel development of structures of law in society to replace instinctive blood feuds. It is suggested that had Freud chosen Orestes instead of Oedipus, the course of both psychoanalysis and of Western society would have had a different emphasis.