Visual and Proprioceptive Adaptation of Arm Position in a Virtual Environment

The authors examined the resolution of a discrepancy between visual and proprioceptive estimates of arm position in 10 participants. The participants fixed their right shoulder at 0°, 30°, or 60° of transverse adduction while they viewed a video on a head-mounted display that showed their right arm extended in front of the trunk for 30 min. The perceived arm position more closely approached the seen arm position on the display as the difference between the actual and visually displayed arm positions increased. In the extreme case of a 90° discrepancy, the seen arm position on the display was very gradually perceived as approaching the actual arm position. The magnitude of changes in sensory estimates was larger for proprioception (20%) than for vision (< 10%).     

Revitalizing Oedipus

Abstract

Three steps are presented to revitalize the concept of the Oedipus complex and to apply this revitalized concept to clinical work. First, a comprehensive child developmental map is constructed of the road from the early infantile genital phase to the achievement of the full Oedipus stage, integrating the diverse components of self, gender, libido, aggression, ego, superego, object relationship and adaptation. Second, specific developmental lines (e.g., separation-individuation) are magnified in a given patient for close examination to explore the relationship to that patient's overall oedipal conflicts. Third, a reciprocal interaction is fostered between the evolving conceptual framework and the emerging clinical data. The paper contains two in-depth case examples to illustrate the clinical application of these ideas.     

Oedipus goes to the opera: Psychoanalytic inquiry in Enescu’s Œdipe and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex

Abstract

Psychoanalytic inquiry into operas based on the life of Oedipus may provide further knowledge on the Oedipus complex. Therefore, we chose to analyze Enescu’s ?dipe and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. Two distinct methodologies were used in our study. The first explored the concept of free association through musical themes in the operas. The second involved the comparative study of the Oedipus myth in order to provide a deeper understanding of Oedipus’s character. We observed that Oedipus displayed symptoms of his complex through the traits of aggressiveness and arrogance. Moreover, we noticed that Oedipus was compelled by the necessity of finding out who his real parents were and by unconsciously accomplishing the prophecy. Oedipus assumed the responsibility to free the Thebans from plague. Yet, it was too late, for the feared part of the prophecy was already accomplished. He provided a wrong answer to the Sphinx and then received the most severe punishment, one that would have ostracism as its outcome. It was, however, not too late for Oedipus to finally discover who his real parents were. Nevertheless, afraid of losing his place as King of Thebes, he investigated the plague’s causes. This resulted in his aggression as he resisted discovering “where babies come from.”     

Countertransference—Transference seen from the Point of View of Child Psychoanalysis

This paper explores the ‘point of interaction’, that interface where the psyches of the patient and analyst meet. The author examines what is activated in the analytic pair at the point of interaction, with a particular focus on the mental activity of the patient and analyst. This exploration of the mental activity of the patient and analyst is from a theoretical position that combines contemporary Freudian and Kleinian perspectives on the therapeutic process. The author concludes that the capacity for mutuality in both the patient and analyst rests upon a part of the mind that is connected to a certain aspect of the Oedipus complex. Finally, the point of interaction is also discussed as a place where there is a potential meeting of minds around divergent methods and applications of psychoanalytic treatment. Clinical material is presented to illustrate these points.     

The Œdipus complex, crystallizer of the debate between psychoanalysis and anthropology

The way that anthropologists understand the Oedipus complex, in particular, is a good example of how they understand psychoanalysis in general. Indeed, it has crystallized a set of reactions marked by ignorance, misunderstanding, distortion and screening out and at the same time has provoked suspicion among anthropologists as to psychoanalysis, according to the preconceptions of the various schools of thought and authors implied, and this from the very first contacts up to nowadays. In what way did the psychoanalysts contribute to this and what representation did they, in turn, elaborate of anthropology? The purpose of this paper is to expose the epistemological and historical conditions of the emergence of this debate, and then to develop it by following chronology up to the 1950s and 1960s, while differentiating three major cultural areas, Great Britain, the USA and France, in order to get a clearer picture. From that point on, we will try to diversify our inquiry and to formulate some interpretative hypotheses. In particular, we think that a traumatic event may have inaugurated and organized the history of the relationship between the two disciplines, producing a situation of acculturation with multiple impacts, if we identify them with two cultures coming into contact: what is at stake here is Totem and Taboo in which Freud carries through the first major psychoanalytical approach of the interpretation of ethnographic facts, that leads him to transplant the universality of the Oedipus complex to the very root of the first social institutions and to pinpoint the presence of unconscious processes in their genesis.     

Klein's Archaic Oedipus Complex and Its Possible Relationship to the Myth of the Labyrinth: Notes on the Origin of Courage

The ancient Greek myth linking the images of the labyrinth and the Minotaur provides an allegory for Melanie Klein's conception of the archaic Oedipus complex as well as a vivid illustration of Winnicott's notions of object usage and the 'subjective object'. The labyrinth is suggestive of mother's body as the first area for an infant's exploration and putative sadistic conquest. The Minotaur, in turn, suggests the infant's unconscious phantasies about the content of mother's body, namely such projective identifications onto that body as the paternal penis and the 'internal babies'. Further, the heroic dynamic personified by Theseus in the myth of the labyrinth metaphorically signifies what is here proposed as a developmental line that involves the courage to do a number of things, including to become, to create, to seek, to explore, to do, to challenge, to undertake risks, to accept, to rescue, to initiate, to think, to know and to realize. The Minotaur can thus be thought to serve as a universal subjective signifier for an 'Object of Challenge', which, if not successfully dealt with by the ego-development of the infant, transforms that default into the 'Object of Nemesis'. Ultimately, this myth of mastery speaks to the psychoanalytic process itself as well as casting light on the transformative aspects of sexual intercourse as a personal healing ritual.     

The Little Mermaid: Hans Christian Andersen's Feminine Identification

While verbally transmitted fairy tales express universal human concerns, the literary fairy tale, the written creation of an individual author, permits a psychodynamic understanding of the writer. The little mermaid's willingness to undergo the pain and mutilation involved in the loss of both her tail and was voice in order to become a mortal and marry a prince has been regarded as illustrating problems in female sexual development. However, a review of Hans Christian Andersen's biographical data indicates that the story also represents his unconscious homosexual conflicts and supports Freud's concept of the role of castration anxiety in the negative Oedipus complex.     

亲子支持与老年人抑郁情绪的关系:安全感和情绪表达的作用

采用问卷调查法,以362名老年人为研究对象,考察亲子支持与老年人抑郁情绪的关系,同时探讨安全感的中介作用以及情绪表达的调节作用。结果发现：（1）亲子支持显著负向预测老年人抑郁情绪;（2）安全感在亲子支持与老年人抑郁情绪的关系中起部分中介作用;（3）情绪表达调节亲子支持与老年人安全感的关系,相较于高情绪表达能力老年人,低情绪表达能力老年人的安全感更易受亲子支持的影响。本研究的发现表明,增强老年人的安全感以及情绪表达能力有助于减缓老年期抑郁情绪和维护老年人心理健康。     

No Relationship Between Joint Position Sense and Force Sense at the Shoulder

In practice, a single test is used to quantify an individual's proprioception. Previous studies have not found a correlation between joint position sense (JPS) and force sense (FS), which are submodalities of proprioception. The purpose of the present study is to determine if root mean square (RMS) error in JPS and FS are related at the shoulder, controlling for external load and elevation angle. Active shoulder angle and force reproduction protocols were performed. No correlation was found between JPS and FS (r = –.019, p = .941) nor were any individual angle and load combinations significant. The main effect for angle in JPS was significant (p < .001). Follow-up contrast demonstrated a significant (p < .001) decrease in RMS error with increased elevation. A significant load by angle interaction was found for FS (p = .014). Follow-up simple effects tests by angle demonstrated RMS error decreased with load at 50° and 70° but not at 90°. By load, RMS error only decreased for 120% between 50° and 90°. JPS and FS demonstrate different behavior with load and angle. This differing behavior is more likely responsible for the lack of correlation than angle and load differences in JPS and FS protocols.     

The Symbolic Object

Abstract

The term “symbolic object” is introduced as a way to understand the moments between analyst and patient where “something” new and dynamic emerges within the dyadic relationship. The symbolic object is the bridge between the idealized, all-good object and symbolization proper. The intrapsychic atmosphere between self and object representations is in a relatively non-conflicted state during this process. By reformulating the Nirvana principle and the principle of constancy as ways in which the organism economically strives for the most organized and homoeostatic state possible, the infant or adult can be seen to be searching for the position of lowest unpleasure possible. This is the optimum balance between the libidinal and aggressive forces in the self and object representational field. These moments of “truce” between often highly conflicted phantasies usher in a more refined use of projective identification as a form of intrapsychic/interpersonal communication. This is a particular atmosphere from which both parties, within the projective/introjective, back-and-forth dyadic world, can begin to co-create and rediscover assorted amalgams of self and object functioning. This newly awakened psychic entity is the symbolic object. This outgrowth of something fresh to the dyadic orbit is a mutative moment that propels the relationship into a different direction. Within the pairing of minds, a novel and mutual understanding is produced. Both parties share this new symbolic object and each is shaped by it.