The psychogenesis of the ego: notes on Freud's 'case of homosexuality in a woman'

This paper examines Freud's (1920) case study 'The psychogenesis of homosexuality in a woman' in the light of the second topography that was being elaborated in his theoretical writing at that time. The analysis of the ego and its defence mechanisms, which was to become such an important part of clinical technique in Anglo-American psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychodynamic counselling, is not set out explicitly in any of Freud's case studies. However, in this last case study presented by Freud, it is possible to see how an attention to family dynamics, Oedipal structures and patterns of identification set the stage for the new notion of the ego to emerge. This 'turning point' in theory and clinical technique is also, in this case, intimately related to theories of sexuality, and Freud's own assumptions about homosexuality and heterosexuality are considered here in relation to his account of the ego.     

Family Therapy of Schizophrenics with High Risk of Relapse

Three families that demonstrated factors associated with relapse of florid symptoms in a schizophrenic family member underwent a course of 25 sessions of behavioral therapy in a multi-family group. Details of the treatment and assessment procedures are presented along with evidence of significant beneficial change in two families. The problem of providing continuing care for schizophrenic patients and their families is discussed.     

Developing Support for Alcohol and Drug Education: A Case Study of a Counselor's Role

A small group of individuals successfully helped a rural community deal with its adolescent drug problems and illustrated important roles for counselors and community leaders.     

The Body of Christ: Rethinking a Classic Ecclesiological Model

Abstract:   The image of the church as the body of Christ is deployed by Karl Barth and Robert Jenson in the service of very different and equally unsatisfactory ecclesiologies. While Barth's concern for divine freedom causes him to accentuate the distinction between head and members to the point of positing two churches, Jenson's stress on Christ's objective presence in the world risks collapsing Christ into the church. Against both positions, attention to the fact that human bodies can be encountered in what may be distinguished as second- and third-person modes allows the image of the body of Christ to be deployed in a way that precludes both any confusion of divine and human agency and any separation of Christ from the earthly-historical community.     

'Willing Is Not Choosing': Some Anthropological Implications of Dyothelite Christology

Abstract:  The dyothelite Christology of Maximus the Confessor provides a basis for countering modern worry that an Augustinian doctrine of the bondage of the will undermines human integrity. Modern discomfort with Augustine presupposes an anthropology that equates genuine agency with freedom of choice. In defending the principle that Christ has a fully human will, Maximus challenges this presupposition by denying that a human agent's willing is to be identified with choosing. Thus, while Maximus does not share Augustine's doctrine of original sin, he offers a framework within which to explore possible convergence between Eastern and Western understandings of the will.     

A Dilemma of Late Life Memory

ABSTRACT Unexpected but vivid and compelling memories are a wide-spread experience in late life. The experience has often been described in literature, and in recent years has been the object of extensive gerontological research under the label ‘life review’. Such memories often include a reversal of judgment about a past act, relationship, event, etc. What earlier was judged to be so is, in the retrospect of late life, judged not to have been so after all. This presents a question: which judgment—the earlier or the later—has better epistemological credentials in such cases? Some obvious possible answers are considered and rejected. It would seem that the issue is not resolvable on epistemological grounds. A parallel dilemma seems to appear in other dimensions of experience. An example from aesthetic experience is briefly considered.