On the logic of psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory shows some specific features and problems. It exists in a number of variations, according to different schools as well as cultural and subcultural conditions, with different understandings even of core concepts. Instead of producing definite knowledge, results remain uncertain. They vary in use and imply a permanent reworking of ideas and conceptions. This is the effect of the kind of theory psychoanalysis has to use. Since psychodynamics are a special kind of heterogeneous, changing, always different, emergent-in a word, autopoietic-reality, psychoanalysis cannot use the methods of a denotative theory (algorithmic reduction leading to strictly defined and formulated calculations) but has to use connotative theories. Connotative theories use open concepts which provide an active and flexible access to autopoietic reality. They are able to cope with the difference between singularities as well as with the distance between general logic and empirical reality. Problems tied to this possibility are structural fuzziness, a dependence on forms of use, multiple paradigms and difficulties in legitimation and balance of theories. This causes problems of institutionalisation. These problems are not a sign of immaturity but the normal way in which connotative theories appear and develop. They can therefore not be eliminated but only be treated in a better way.     

Loewald's approach to psychoanalytic theory

The author suggests that part of the legacy of Hans Loewald is the nature of his approach to psychoanalytic theory. Loewald carefully considered and selectively utilized the work of theorists from a number of psychoanalytic schools of thought: id psychology, object relations theory, ego psychology, self psychology, and the interpersonal tradition. In addition, he helped pave the way for the current widespread interest in intersubjectivity, and also positioned himself in relation to those who embraced hermeneutics. Through all of this, he maintained a skeptical attitude, embodied in his belief in the complexity of the phenomena to be explored and his commitment to the perspective that psychoanalytic ideas should be open to revision.     

Neuroscience and imagination: the relevance of Susanne Langer's work to psychoanalytic theory

This paper presents the work of philosopher Susanne Langer and argues that her conceptualization of the human mind can provide psychoanalysts with a unique framework with which to theoretically combine interpretive and biological approaches to their work. Langer's earlier work in the philosophy of symbols directs her investigation into the biological sciences along the lines of sentience and imagination, which in turn become the cornerstones of her theory of mind. Langer's understanding of the continuing transformation of affect into language is a decisive contribution yet to be built upon by others.     

Anna Freud's contribution to the psychoanalytic theory of development

This paper elaborates key areas of Anna Freud's theory of development, setting these in the context of Freud's structural model and its influence on her early work. The centrality of the role of the ego and the beginnings of one of her major achievements, the elaboration of a psychoanalytic developmental psychology, are shown in evidence in 1936, in The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. The author develops this theme in an exploration of the 1965 work Normality and Pathology in Childhood, looking from the base of normal development, via defence and conflict, to regression and significant developmental factors.     

Well-suited partners: psychoanalytic research and grounded theory

Abstract

Research is a ‘core activity’ of ‘central importance in improving mental health and social care’ (NIME, CAMHS National Conference, 2005 CAMHS National Conference. January 2005. Research in CAMHS Conference Handbook January,  [Google Scholar]). This paper examines the philosophical issues confronted when considering psychoanalytic clinical research. It is argued that a well-suited partnership can be formed between psychoanalytic clinical research and Grounded Theory. The methodological issues encountered when using Grounded Theory to analyse qualitative clinical data are explored. The well-suited partnership formed between Grounded Theory and psychoanalytic clinical research has the capacity to provide explanatory mechanisms, findings that are translatable to routine clinical practice, and to discover new ways of grouping young people so that they are alike in the most significant aspects of their mental health presentations. This makes further clinical trials more reliable. Psychoanalytic clinical findings are used together with a range of material from different sources to develop concepts and theory that are readily accessible to the wider professional community. Illustrations will be provided from the author's doctoral research into Risk-Taking, Dangerous Behaviour.

Selon l'Institut National de la Santé Mentale en Angleterre [NIME], la recherche est une “activité fondamentale” d'une “importance cruciale pour l'amélioration des soins en santé mentale et dans le cadre social” [Colloque National des Services de Santé Mentale pour Enfants et Adolescents, 2005]. Dans cet article, l'auteur étudie les problèmes auxquels sont confrontés les chercheurs en clinique psychanalytique. Il affirme qu'un partenariat tout à fait opportun peut être établi entre la recherche clinique psychanalytique et la théorie inductive ancrée dans le réel (“grounded theory”). Il explore les difficultés méthodologiques que soulève cette théorie inductive appliquée à l'analyse des données cliniques qualitatives. Ce partenariat tout à fait opportun entre la théorie inductive et la recherche clinique psychanalytique est capable de fournir des mécanismes explicatifs et des résultats qui peuvent être mis en application dans la pratique clinique ordinaire; en outre, il permet d'envisager de nouveaux regroupements par catégorie basés sur les aspects les plus significatifs de la pathologie présentée par les jeunes. Les contrôles cliniques complémentaires sont alors plus fiables. Les observations cliniques psychanalytiques sont associées à un éventail de matériel de sources différentes pour développer des concepts et des théories à la portée de tous les intervenants de ce secteur. L'auteur illustre ses propos à partir de sa thèse de doctorat de troisième cycle portant sur la prise de risque et les comportements dangereux.

Mots-clés: Recherche clinique psychanalytique, méthodologie de la théorie inductive ancrée dans le réel (“grounded theory”), philosophie de la science, psychothérapeute d'enfants, spécialiste de Niveau 3 des Services de Santé Mentale pour Enfants et Adolescents, refuges

Riassunto: La ricerca è ‘attività principale’ di ‘importanza centrale per il miglioramento della salute mentale e dell'assistenza sociale’ (NIME, CAMHS National Conference, 2005). Questo articolo esamina le questioni filosofiche che si incontrano quando si considera la ricerca clinica in campo psicoanalitico. Si sostiene che un buon rapporto di partnership possa essere stabilito tra la ricerca clinica psicoanalitica e la Grounded Theory. Vengono esplorate le questioni metodologiche che si incontrano quando si usa la Grouded Theory per analizzare dati clinici qualitativi. Il rapporto di partnership che si stabilisce tra Grouded Theory e la ricerca clinica psicoanalitica ha la capacità di fornire meccanismi di spiegazione, risultati che sono traducibili nella pratica clinica di routine, e di scoprire modi nuovi di raggruppare i giovani in modo che siano simili per gli aspetti pi[ugrave] significativi della loro presentazione in salute mentale. Tutto ciò rende pi[ugrave] affidabili ulteriori prove cliniche. I risultati clinici psicoanalitici vengono usati con una serie di materiali di origini diverse per sviluppare concetti e teorie che siano facilmente accessibili alla pi[ugrave] ampia comunità dei professionisti. Verrà fornito del materiale dal lavoro di dottorato di ricerca dell'autore sul comportamento di rischio e sul comportamento pericoloso.

Parole chiave: ricerca clinica psicoanalitica, metodologia della Grounded Theory, filosofia della scienza, psicoterapia infantile, Tier 3 Specialist CAMHS, rifugi

Forschung ist eine ‘zentrale Aktivität’ von besonderer Wichtigkeit in der Verbesserung von psychischem Wohlergehen und Sozialfürsorge’ (NIME, CAMHS Nationalkonferenz 2005) Dieser Artikel untersucht philosophische Fragestellungen, mit denen man konfrontiert wird, wenn man psychoanalytische klinische Forschung in Betracht zieht. Es wird argumentiert, dass eine gut funktionierende Partnerschaft zwischen psychoanalytischer klinischer Forschung und grounded theory hergestellt werden kann. Es werden die methodologischen Fragen, auf die man stösst, wenn man grounded theory benutzt, um qualitative klinische Daten zu analysieren, exploriert. Die gut funktionierende Partnerschaft zwischen ‘grounded theory’ und psychoanalytischer klinischer Forschung hat die Fähigkeit, Erklärungsmechanismen und Ergebnisse bereitzustellen, die routinemässig in klinische Praxis übersetzt werden können, und neue Arten der Gruppierung von jungen Leuten zu entdecken, sodass sie sich in den signifikantesten Aspekten ihrer Präsentierung ähneln. Weitere klinische Versuchsreihen werden dann mehr verlässlich. Es werden klinische Ergebisse zusammen mit einer Reihe von Materialien von verschiedenen Quellen benutzt, um Konzepte und Theorien zu entwickeln, die für die weitere professionelle Gruppe leicht zugänglich sind. Es werden Illustrationen aus der Doktorarbeit der Autorin über das Eingehen von Risiko und gefährlichen Verhaltensweisen gegeben.

Keywords: Psychoanalytische klinische Forschung, Methodologie der ‘grounded theory’, Wissenschaftsphilosphie, Kindertherapeut, Kinder-und Jugendpsychiatrischer Dienst, Zufluchtsorte     

From dyad to dialogue: language and the early relationship in American psychoanalytic theory

The centrality of language for a Freudian theory of mind and treatment has not been retained by most post-Freudian theorists. American writers have turned to academic developmental research on mother-child interactions to depict the preoedipal period as preverbal, presymbolic, nonconscious. This view presents the early relationship as developing in linear stages in which visual observational data (e.g., contingent behavior action patterns between two persons) are privileged over aural-oral data of communicational exchanges. An alternative view is presented that redefines the earliest relationship in terms of communicational exchanges, mediation, and dialogue. The claim is that understanding the nature of mediated communication keeps language central to psychoanalysis and reestablishes an intrapsychic dimension in the concept of relationship that is lost when relationship is reduced to behavioral patterns.     

Opening to the otherwise: The discipline of listening and the necessity of free‐association for psychoanalytic praxis

It is argued that only free‐association methodically opens the discourse of self‐consciousness (the representations available to reflective awareness) to the voicing of the repressed. The method is key to Freud's originality and the sine qua non of any genuinely psychoanalytic process. Clinical procedures which do not prioritize a steadfast and ongoing commitment to this method (instead emphasizing either interpretative formulations, as decisive acts that appear to fix and finalize the meaning of a particular lived experience, or the vicissitudes of transference‐countertransference in the immediate treatment situation) all too readily entrap the treatment, limiting its capacity to divulge the power of unconscious processes. Influenced by Laplanche, Freud's 1920 principles of lifefulness and deathfulness (the binding and unbinding of psychic energy in representations) facilitate an understanding of the unique significance of free‐associative discourse in opening the representational textuality of self‐consciousness to the voicing of that which is otherwise than representationality and reason. The ‘otherwise’ is intimated as the returning force of the repressed, as the ‘unfathomable navel’ of ‘thing‐presentations,’ experienced and expressed within the text of awareness, yet not translatable into the law and order of its logical and rhetorical reflections. Free‐associative discourse thus affects self‐consciousness in a way that is radically different from other creative procedures (‘psychosynthetic’ or integratively interpretive). In this respect, the status of free‐associative praxis as necessary for a genuinely psychoanalytic process is justified.     

Some complexities in the relationship of psychoanalytic theory to technique

This paper considers the current fragmentation of psychoanalytic theory as a result of the illusorily close association of practice and theory. The author argues that the politically motivated assertion of a direct connection between theory and practice should be set aside and that practice should be liberated from theory, permitting theory to evolve in the context of radically modified patterns of practice. If theory were decoupled from practice, technique might progress on purely pragmatic grounds, on the basis of what is seen to work. Psychoanalytic theory of mental function could then follow practice, integrating what is newly discovered through innovative methods of clinical work. Such a pragmatic, principally action-oriented use of theory would bring psychoanalysis more in line with modern, postempirical views of science.