A case of sadomasochistic transference: the analyst's contributions to perverse enactments

A young woman who came for treatment of anxiety and depression is presented in a detailed case report. She developed an erotized transference that was predominantly sadomasochistic and included her intention to torture and castrate the analyst. The author demonstrates how the analyst's behavior, including countertransference contributions, assisted in shaping the vicissitudes of sadomasochistic transference paradigms. A collusion was established between patient and analyst in a manner that enabled the analytic dyad to work productively toward an eventual resolution of the patient's conflicts. The author discusses the case's complexities pertaining to enactments, while emphasizing the importance of carefully monitoring and addressing countertransference experiences that mold and shape such a collusion.     

Awareness of time distortions and its relation with time judgment: a metacognitive approach

The perception of time cannot be reduced to a simple percept produced by an internal clock. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the role of the individual consciousness of time on temporal judgments. In the present study, the participants' awareness of attention-related time distortions was assessed using a metacognitive questionnaire. The participants were also required to verbally judge a series of stimulus durations in a single or a dual task condition. The results revealed that time was underestimated in the dual task compared to the single task. However, the accuracy of time judgments improved in line with the participants' individual awareness of attentional time distortion: The more aware they were of the role of attention in time perception, the lower the time distortions they exhibited. Conscious awareness of time therefore plays a role in the accuracy of the time judgments made by human beings.     

Screen memory: its importance to object relations and transference

A screen memory of an obsessive and narcissistic man, reported early in psychoanalysis, both represented and disguised the patient's oedipal conflict, incestuous wishes, and sibling rivalry. It symbolized for him his relationship with his mother and was treated by him, in a repetitive and fetishistic manner throughout treatment, as the reason for his bitterness toward life, his sense of entitlement, his narcissism, and his distrust of women. In the transference, the memory-far from being inert- constantly played an active role in his wishes and disappointments regarding the analyst, and in his fantasied oedipal triumph over him. As the analysis progressed, and after years of treatment, the encapsulated nature of this memory began to give way to the patient's growing awareness of his oedipal wishes, the full range of his feelings toward his mother, and his sense of abandonment by her. The nature of screen memory is explored, including how it relates to a patient's personality and use of the past in general, how it may figure in the development of a person's object relations, and the decisive role it may play throughout a treatment.     

Cyberpassion: E-rotic transference on the Internet.

While psychoanalysis has generally been regarded as "the talking cure," written communication from patient to analyst commonly appears within the analytic setting. In our electronic age, e-mail communications from patient to analyst have become commonplace. This paper describes a case of erotic transference conveyed primarily through e-mail messages, and discusses their multiple meanings as an enactment. The unique features of e-mail communication are explored and contrasted with verbal discourse in the analytic dyad.     

Analytical psychology and its relation to psychoanalysis. A personal view

Jungian analysis is a process based on analytical psychology; it shows local variations giving emphasis to different aspects of Jung's work within the various societies which make up the IAAP. I describe the orientation of the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP). I have emphasized the different origins of psychoanalysis and analytical psychology and described how, because we encounter the same clinical phenomena, our differences centre on technique and interpretation in the context of our theoretical differences (see Astor 1998, p. 697 & 2001). In the main the link to psychoanalysis has come from the connection forged by Fordham, who recognized that Jung and Klein shared a similar perception of the significance of unconscious phantasy. For Klein unconscious phantasy was the primary unconscious content, and this is different, as Spillius has recently pointed out, from Freud for whom, 'the prime mover, so to speak, is the unconscious wish.     

Followup of psychoanalysis five to ten years after termination: III. The relation between the resolution of the transference and the patient-analyst match

As part of a long-term followup study of the outcome of psychoanalysis, we examined the relation between the extent of resolution of the transference at termination and the characteristics of the patient-analyst match. For twelve of the seventeen patients interviewed five to ten years after termination of psychoanalysis, the researchers found that the patient-analyst match played a role in the outcome of the analysis. Illustrations of the influence of the match in cases where the transference was resolved and those where it was not are presented.     

Spatial distortions within the Poggendorff fig are and its variants: A parametric analysis

Angle size and horizontal separation of the Poggendorff figure and three components (acute angles, obtuse angles, and obliques) were varied parametrically. Two adult trained observers judged the distance between the obliques of the test figure relative to a pair of comparison dots during 250-msec tachistoscopic presentations. Results indicated: (1) the Poggendorff effect is created by an underestimation of intercontour distance, resulting in apparent misalignment; (2) only the obtuse angles can serve as a significant predictor of the classical illusion; (3) the parallel lines play an important contributory role in the Poggendorff illusion when they are present. Findings tended to support a theoretical explanation based on contour interactions.     

Alchemy and the erotic transference: A Jungian approach

Abstract

In The Psychology of the Transference Jung showed a series of pictures which he discovered in an ancient alchemical text, the Rosarium philosophorum. He connected these to the effects of the transference in psychotherapy. This may seem an unnecessarily obscure way of looking at the transference, yet it makes remarkable sense. Although alchemy is often considered the sole province of Jungian analysis, it can also be seen as illuminating a psychodynamic approach to counselling. Written from a post-feminist viewpoint, a critical approach is taken to certain key Jungian terms. The paper is illustrated with two clinical examples.     

Anti-Semitism in the clinical setting: transference and countertransference dimensions.

Despite the salient presence of Jews in the history of psychoanalysis, literature on the subject of anti-Semitism in the clinical setting is surprisingly sparse. This paper attempts to comprehend the reasons for the dearth of literature on this important topic. A clinical section then breaks the silence surrounding expressions of anti-Semitism in the consulting room. The major focus is on transference and countertransference reactions that arise with regard to anti-Semitism in the clinical setting. Since the first section is concerned with silence in the psychoanalytic community, its focus is primarily on countertransference issues that may hinder the analyst's understanding and use of anti-Semitic material. The second, clinical section focuses on the ways both transference and countertransference reactions combine and influence one another and how they may, when properly attended to, serve as catalytic tools for advancing therapeutic goals.