Commentaries on 'The symbolism of the story of Lot and his wife'

In this article, four child and adolescent psychotherapists discuss their responses, within a psychoanalytic framework, to the theoretical and technical questions raised by Monica Lanyado in her paper 'The symbolism of Lot and his wife'.     

Using the concept of the 'total situation' in the analysis of a borderline adolescent

The author discusses two concepts of transference: the broader use of transference as the 'total situation', as it was called by Melanie Klein and further elaborated by post-Kleinians, and the narrow use of transference in the traditional sense. Using clinical material from the four-times-a-week analysis of a severely disturbed adolescent over a period of 4 years, the author tries to show how the understanding of the transference as the total situation enabled her to work with this boy who hardly spoke or played. The observation of his non-verbal communication and the counter-transference feelings of the analyst made it possible to formulate hypotheses about the quality of his relationship with the analyst and the inner world of the patient. After the presentation of the clinical material the author points out some misunderstandings of the concept of the total situation in European psychoanalytic discussion.

L'auteur explore deux façons de conceptualiser le transfert?:?celle, plus large, de la « situation totale », formulée par Melanie Klein et développée par les post-Kleiniens, ainsi que celle, plus étroite, de l'acception traditionnelle du terme. À partir du matériel clinique d'une analyse À quatre séances hebdomadaires pendant plus de quatre ans d'un adolescent gravement perturbé, l'auteur s'efforce de montrer comment la conception du transfert en tant que situation totale lui a permis de travailler avec ce garçon qui ne parlait ni ne jouait guère. L'observation de ses communications non verbales et les éprouvés contre-transférentiels de l'analyste ont permis l'élaboration d'hypothèses relatives À la qualité de la relation patient-analyste et au monde interne du garçon. Après avoir présenté le matériel clinique, l'auteur relève quelques malentendus qui persistent, parmi les psychanalystes en Europe, au sujet de la situation totale.

L'autrice discute due concetti di transfert: il piu' ampio uso del transfert in quanto 'situazione totale', come fu chiamato da Melanie Klein e successivamente elaborato dai post-Kleiniani, e l'uso piu' ristretto del transfert nel senso tradizionale. Usando il materiale clinico tratto dall'analisi di quattro anni a quattro sedute settimanali di un adolescente molto disturbato, l'autrice cerca di mostrare in che modo la comprensione del transfert come situazione totale le ha permesso di lavorare con questo ragazzo che a mala pena parlava e giocava. L'osservazione delle sue comunicazioni non verbali e i sentimenti di contro-transfert dell'analista hanno permesso di formulare ipotesi sulla qualita' della sua relazione con l'analista ed il mondo interno del paziente. Successivamente alla presentazione del materiale clinico l'autrice espone alcuni dei fraintendimenti del concetto di situazione totale nella discussione psicoanalitica europea.

Die Autorin diskutiert zwei Konzepte der Übertragung: den weitergefassten Gebrauch der Übertragung als der 'totalen Situation', wie sie von Melanie Klein benannt und von Post-Kleinianern weiterentwickelt wurde, und den engeren Gebrauch der Übertragung im traditionellen Sinne. Anhand von klinischem Material aus einer vierstÜndigen Analyse eines schwer gestörten Jugendlichen Über den Zeitraum von 4 Jahren, versucht die Autorin aufzuzeigen, wie das Verständnis der Übertragung als der totalen Situation ihr ermöglichte, mit diesem Jungen zu arbeiten, der kaum sprach oder spielte. Die Beobachtung seiner nicht-sprachlichen Kommunikation und der GegenÜbertragungsgefÜhle der Analytikerin ermöglichte es, Hypothesen Über die Qualität seiner Beziehung mit der Analytikerin und der innerer Welt des Patientens zu formulieren. Nach der Präsentierung des klinischen Materials stellt die Autorin einige der Missverständnisse des Konzepts der totalen Situation in der europäischen psychoanalytischen Diskussion heraus.     

Transfer of calibration in dynamic touch: What do perceivers learn when they learn about length of a wielded object?

Successfully performing everyday behaviours requires that perceptions and actions are properly calibrated to environmental properties. In three experiments, the authors tested whether calibration was specific to perception of a particular property of a wielded object from a particular grasp position on that object. The experiments investigate whether transfer of recalibration occurs across changes in grasp position (Experiment 1), object property (Experiment 2), and grasp position and object property (Experiment 3). The results suggest that a complete transfer of recalibration occurred in each case. Such results are consistent with recent research on dynamic touch and suggest that rather than recalibrating participants to one particular property of the wielded objects, feedback about a particular property served to recalibrate participants to the properties of the rod set as a whole.     

Visual working memory for dynamic objects: Impaired binding between object feature and location

In daily life, people frequently need to observe dynamic objects and temporarily maintain their representations in visual working memory (VWM). The present study explored the mechanism underlying the binding between perceptual features and locations of dynamic objects in VWM. In three experiments, we measured and compared the memory performance for feature-location binding of multiple dynamic and static objects. The results showed that the feature-location binding was impaired for the dynamic objects compared with the static objects. The impairment persisted when the global spatial configuration of the objects remained intact during the motion, as well as when the binding task was relatively easy, such as binding between single-feature objects and coarse locations. The results indicate that object features and locations are not maintained in VWM as well-integrated object files; rather, the formation of feature-location binding may require additional processes, which are disrupted by the constant change of locations in dynamic circumstances. We propose a consolidation process as possible underlying mechanism, and discuss factors that may influence the strength of feature-location binding in dynamic circumstances.     

Pupil dilation patterns reflect the contents of consciousness

The study of human consciousness has historically depended on introspection. However, introspection is constrained by what can be remembered and verbalized. Here, we demonstrate the utility of high temporal resolution pupillometry to track the locus of conscious attention dynamically, over a single trial. While eye-tracked, participants heard several musical clips played diotically (same music in each ear) and, later, dichotically (two clips played simultaneously, one in each ear). During dichotic presentation, participants attended to only one ear. We found that the temporal pattern of pupil dilation dynamics over a single trial discriminated which piece of music was consciously attended on dichotic trials. Deconvolving these pupillary responses further revealed the real-time changes in stimulus salience motivating pupil dilation. Taken together, these results show that pupil dilation patterns during single-exposure to dynamic stimuli can be exploited to discern the contents of conscious attention.     

ON AGGRESSION TURNED AGAINST THE SELF

Deliberate self‐harm is a common presenting problem suffered by young people. Several patients referred to the NHS outpatient clinic where I work have been able to stop harming themselves during intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In this paper, I shall discuss a variety of motives for persistent cutting by one adolescent girl. I am most interested to show how the healthier part of her personality overcame her motives for harming herself, and eventually allowed her to make use of my understanding of a sadomasochistic internal object that worked against us.