Induced emotional reactions and attitudes in the psychoanalyst as transference in actuality

The long hiatus between Freud's seminal paper on countertransference in 1910 and the contributions of the 1950s on totalistic countertransference is analyzed in terms of historical factors and others intrinsic to psychoanalysis. Induced reactions in the psychoanalyst as transference in actuality is differentiated from classical countertransference and the growing literature on totalistic countertransference, as well as from transferences involving the usual displacement and projective mechanisms. Several cases are discussed to indicate the wide range of psychopathology in which induced reactions occur and their value in reconstruction. The reasons for the confusing use of the concept, countertransference, for a variety of psychological processes in the analyst are cited, and a new model of five categories centering around modes of communication are posited: empathic transitory identifications, preconscious associations and imagery, induced reactions to transferences, induced reactions as transference in actuality, and classical countertransference. The relationship of induced reactions to classical countertransference is discussed, as well as implications of induced reactions as transference in actuality for internalization theory, and implicitly for the psychology of the self. Finally, some clinical issues in the use of induced reactions are eluciated.     

Adolescents' reactions to the death of a peer

In recent years, more attention has been given to the fact that grieving is a process, especially in the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. The literature has focused on many aspects of bereavement, including how the process may be different at different ages. Much of the research on adolescents has focused on reactions to the suicide of a peer. The purpose of this study was to explore adolescent reactions to the death of a peer by means other than suicide. Semistructured interviews were conducted with ten college students about their experience of losing a friend in high school. Results indicated that even after a few years, the adolescents were still struggling through the grieving process. Implications for future research and suggestions for practitioners faced with similar crises are offered.     

The identitiy of the psychoanalyst

Abstract

Kocourkovå J. The Identity of the Psychoanalyst. Int Forum Psychoanal 1997;6:137-140. Stockholm, ISSN 0803-706X.

The conditions are examined, in which the professional identity of the psychoanalyst is created and expressed. The personal analysis and an unambiguous identification with this process are considered to be a basic experience in the formation of the psychoanalyst's identity. Personal experience of supervision is of the same importance. The psychoanalytic process is complicated by unresolved narcissistic problems of the psychoanalyst. The Kleinian concept of envy, which can make the positive identification with the analyst impossible, is mentioned. However, the concept of envy should be understood not only as a projective mechanism, but also as unconscious connotations of giving and receiving in the analytical relationship. Identity problems of psychoanalytical societies are also discussed, including the Czech Psychoanalytical Society.     

The female psychoanalyst in the movies

The last five decades of the American cinema have produced a remarkably consistent stereotype of the female analyst. In films such as Spellbound (1945), Knock on Wood (1954), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), They Might be Giants (1971), and The Man Who Loved Women (1983), women analysts are swept away by countertransference love that leads them to become sexually or romantically involved with their male patients. In stark contrast to the data from studies of patient-therapist sexual involvement, there are more than twice as many films portraying unethical sexual behavior on the part of a female analyst as there are films depicting similar countertransference acting out by a male analyst. Moreover, a stable relationship with a man and a successful analytic practice never coexist for any woman analyst in the cinema. Neither does a female analyst ever successfully treat a male patient in the American cinema unless she falls in love with him. On the contrary, the male patient is more likely to cure his female analyst. Clinical reports from cross-gender analyses are useful in understanding these cinematic myths.     

The questions and curiosity of the psychoanalyst

Questions the analyst asks of the patient are a powerful but neglected aspect of the theory of psychoanalytic technique. Their importance resides in their dynamic impact on the psychic equilibrium of the patient because of their ability to destabilize existing compromise formations. A clinical vignette illustrates the view that the linguistic shift from other modes of discourse to the spoken question heralds a less visible parallel shift in the psychic equilibrium of either the psychoanalyst or patient. There is no more and no less complexity to questions than to any other communication by either analyst or patient. For that reason there can be no systematic classification of questions in the clinical psychoanalytic situation, just as there can be no definitive taxonomy of psychoanalytic discourse. It makes no sense to reduce the enormous diversity and range of all the questions the analyst asks to the simple dichotomy of good or bad for the analysis. Questions are the emblem of the analyst's mode of inquiry; they can further the development of self-observation, which is such an important concomitant, cause, and consequence of structural change.     

Technical challenges faced by the immigrant psychoanalyst

This paper delineates the technical challenges faced by immigrant analysts. These include (i) maintaining cultural neutrality toward "native" patients, (ii) wondering about the patient's motivations for choosing an ethnoculturally different analyst, (iii) scanning the patient's associations for interethnic clues to deeper transferences, (iv) negotiating the dilemmas posed by conducting analysis in a language other than one's mother tongue, and (v) avoiding shared projections, acculturation gaps, and nostalgic collusion in working with homoethnic immigrant analysands. While by no means irrelevant to the clinical work of non-immigrant analysts, these tasks seem to have a greater importance for the immigrant analyst. Brief clinical vignettes are offered to illustrate these propositions and to highlight the tension between the universality of fundamental intrapsychic and relational configurations, on the one hand, and the nuances of cultural and linguistic context, on the other.     

Children's bereavement reactions following death of the father

The war situation compelled a reinvestigation into the characteristics, course, the outcome, and the variety of bereavement reactions in early childhood. In this study, the behaviors and changes reported by the mothers and teachers of 24 normal kibbutz children over a period of 1 to 16 months after bereavement are presented. The findings lead to one clear and central conclusion: The death of a father in war brings about a severe stress situation for the child at both the preschool and the middle-childhood age. The abrupt disequilibrium created by the death itself and the resulting changes in the family place very difficult demands on the adaptation and coping capacities of the child.In this sample of normal children with no special problems before the loss, ample evidence of acute emotional strain along with noticeable grief reactions were found in the early months of bereavement. A marked increase in the number and variety of symptomatic behavior changes testified to the seriousness of the threat to the child's sense of well-being after notification of the death. Ten of the 22 children between the ages of 2 and 10 years reacted to the trauma severely and were so markedly hindered in their daily functioning that psychological help was considered imperative. The disorganizing effect of the trauma of the loss of a father as reflected in this high percentage of disturbance in normal children indicates that without doubt a child who has lost a parent is a child at risk. It is therefore desirable if not imperative that there be more balance in the efforts to help bereaved families.1979, Fall     

Children's bereavement reactions following death of the father

The war situation compelled a reinvestigation into the characteristics, course, the outcome, and the variety of bereavement reactions in early childhood. In this study, the behaviors and changes reported by the mothers and teachers of 24 normal kibbutz children over a period of 1 to 6 months after bereavement are presented. The findings lead to one clear and central conclusion: The death of a father in war brings about a severe stress situation for the child at both the preschool and the middle-childhood age. The abrupt disequilibrium created by the death itself and the resulting changes in the family place very difficult demands on the adaptation and coping capacities of the child.In this sample of normal children with no special problems before the loss, ample evidence of acute emotional strain along with noticeable grief reactions were found in the early months of bereavement. A marked increase in the number and variety of symptomatic behavior changes testified to the seriousness of the threat to the child's sense of well-being after notification of the death. Ten of the 22 children between the ages of 2 and 10 years reacted to the trauma severely and were so markedly hindered in their daily functioning that psychological help was considered imperative. The disorganizing effect of the trauma of the loss of a father as reflected in this high percentage of disturbance in normal children indicates that without doubt a child who has lost a parent is a child at risk. It is therefore desirable if not imperative that there be more balance in the efforts to help bereaved families.