Sibling rivalry,separation, and change in Austen's Sense and Sensibility

The paper explores a process of growth represented in the interplay of Jane Austen's characterizations of Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, approaching the text through the lens of psychoanalytic theories on oedipal sibling rivalry, separation, and processes of change. A close reading of Sense and Sensibility tracks Marianne Dashwood's repudiation of any ‘second attachment’ as the surface of an unconscious fantasy, denying a rival for the mother's love. A psychoanalytic view contrasts Marianne's lack of separation from her mother, her use of denial and projection, and her near death after losing the man she loves, with her older sister Elinor Dashwood's capacities for depression, reflection, and greater acceptance of loss and separation. The narrative portrays Mrs. Dashwood's identification with and idealization of her daughter Marianne, which contribute to her oedipal sibling ‘victory’. In the language and structure of the novel, the projections, identifications, aggressions, and separations (conscious and unconscious) of the sisters in the vicissitudes of their adolescent loves and rivalries constitute a process of growth. Austen's novel brings to life, with the vividness and coherence of great literature, forces and fantasies in oedipal sibling rivalries, inspiring renewed attention to their subtle presence in the transference and countertransference of the psychoanalytic process.     

Editorial: Social Realities and Psychoanalysis

Abstract

This discussion explores Wrye's deconstructive methods of feminist theory-building. Wrye contends that sociocultural factors establish Freud's construct “Anatomy is destiny” as a deforming norm and lead to an unconscious saboteur in women. Shechter applies Wrye's unconscious saboteur to clinical work with men, showing the universal pan-gender nature of Wrye's concept. Shechter proposes that Wrye's clinical ideas tap the essence of developmental theory and thus bridge schools of psychoanalytic thought; whether a psychoanalyst interprets drive, self object, or relational images, gender integration occurs when libido is satisfied in a milieu of accepting subjectivity. Gender meanings become malleable and better describe both feminine and masculine self as personal narratives transform.

Roberta Ann Shechter. Die universelle Natur der Subjektivität der Geschlechter und der unbewussten Saboteure: Diskussion der Arbeit von ….

Diese Diskussion erforscht Wryes Auflösung von feministischer Theoriebildung. Wrye vertritt, dass soziokulturelle Faktoren Freuds Aussage “Anatomie ist Schicksal” zur Geltung bringen und zwar als eine deformierende Norm, die zu einem unbewussten Saboteur in der Psyche der Frau wird. Shechter wendet Wyres Konzept des unbewussten Saboteurs auf die klinische Arbeit mit Männern an und weist nach, dass es sich bei Wyres Konzept um ein universelles über die Geschlechtszugehörigkeit hinausgehendes Phänomen handelt.

Roberta Ann Shechter. La naturaleza universal de la subjetividad de género y los saboteadores inconscientes: Un discusión del trabajo de Harriet Kimble Wyre, “Deconstruyendo el saboteador inconsciente: Componiendo una vida con ambición y deseo”.

La discusión explora el método deconstructivo de la construcción teórica feminista de Wrye. Wrye argumenta que los factores socio-culturales establecen el constructo de Freud “anatomía es destino” como una norma deformativa que conduce a un saboteador inconsciente en las mujeres. Shechter aplica el saboteador inconsciente a su trabajo clínico con hombres, mostrando la naturaleza universal del concepto de Wrye. Shechter propone que las ideas clínicas de Wrye golpean la esencia de la teoría del desarrollo y tienden un puente en las escuelas de pensamiento psicoanalítico; Sea que el analista interprete la pulsión, el objeto del self o las imágenes relationales, la integración del género ocurre cuando la libido es satisfecha en u ambiente de aceptación de la subjetividad. Los significados de género, ambos self masculino y femenino, se vuelven maleables y mejor descritos mientra la narrativas personales se transforman. (143)     

Introduction

These papers were presented at the 7(th) meeting between Freudian and Jungian analysts held at the Montreal Congress of the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP) in August 2010. The introduction describes the history and themes of previous meetings and discusses the choice of theme for the Montreal meeting. Both primal phantasies and archetypes imply a structural approach to psychological function but in different theoretical terms. These theoretical differences may also be emblematic of clinical differences between a focus on the sexual aspects of infancy in the Freudian tradition and a focus on ongoing emergence and transformation towards a goal of self-becoming in the Jungian tradition. The discussion aimed to test these hypotheses through the presentation of a single case history by Joseph Cambray (IAAP, USA), followed by commentaries from Eduardo Gastelumendi (IPA, Peru) and Verena Kast (IAAP, Switzerland).     

Clinical implications of The Red Book: Liber Novus

In this presentation I consider whether the importance of Spirit in Liber Novus may render the task of its clinical application peculiarly problematic. Freud's experimentation on himself is briefly compared with Jung's self-experimentation of which Liber Novus is the record. Taking up the theme of the vas from Gaillard's paper, I refer to Jung's two major contributions to the elaboration of the Freudian frame: the necessity for the analyst to have been analysed, and the positive value of countertransference. In an epilogue, I briefly discuss a dream related to the preparation of this report for publication, emphasizing the theme of the disturbing effects of Spirit as a key theme both in Liber Novus itself and in any attempt to assimilate it on the part of the contemporary analyst.     

Pentheus rather than Oedipus: On perversion,survival and analytic ‘presencing’1

Following an introductory review of the main developments in the psychoanalytic thinking on perversion, the author focuses on her own understanding of perversion and its treatment, based on the psychoanalytic treatment of patients with severe sexual perversions. This paper uses the term ‘autotomy’ (borrowed from the fi eld of biology) to describe perversion formation as an ‘autotomous’ defence solution involving massive dissociative splitting in the service of psychic survival within a violent, traumatic early childhood situation; thus, a compulsively enacted ‘desire for ritualised trauma’ ensues. The specifi c nature of the perverse scenario embodies the specifi c experiential core quality of the traumatic situation. It is an actual repetition in the present of the imprint of a past destructive experience which is pre‐arranged and stage‐managed; it thus encounters haunting scenes of dread or psychic annihilation while, at the same time, controlling, sanitising and disavowing them. Hence, the world of severe perversion is no longer oedipal, but rather the world of Pentheus, Euripides's most tragic hero‐a world dominated by a mixture of a mother's madness, devourment, destruction and rituals of desire. According to this view, the (diffi cult) psychoanalytic treatment of perversion focuses on patient‐analyst interconnectedness‐brought about by the analyst's ‘givenness to being present’ or ‘presencing’‐at a deep, primary level of contact and impact (the emphasis being on the ontological dimension of experience). This evolving therapeutic entity creates and actualises a new, alternative experiential‐emotional reality within the pervert's alienated world, eventually generating a change in the perverse essence. The author illustrate this approach with three clinical vignettes.     

Evaluating progress in training: character or competence?

Jung was mercurial in his attitudes to method and technique, leaving us a problematic legacy when it comes to evaluating the progress of trainees. Some would say that those of us involved with the assessment of candidates during their training continue to rely too heavily on intuition and subjective assessments. However good our admissions' procedures and the structures in place to review progress, the emotional and financial demands for trainees of embarking on an analytic training, the tendency for analytic institutes to remain opaque and slow to link up with the external world and the cliques within our profession make more objective assessments of progress and readiness to qualify at best haphazard and at worst inadequate. Some trainees have an immediate talent for analytic work; others develop their gifts more slowly; some never find this capacity. Working from a definition of analytic talent, the paper begins to map out a Jungian framework for assessing progress, emphasizing the significance of both character and competence and the developing relationship between them.     

The intersubjective links in perversion1

The author studies the intersubjective links which the pervert maintains with analyst or partner, attempting to indicate the differences between the investments in each case. Rather than accepting that empathy towards these patients is impossible to achieve and disturbs the countertransference profoundly, it attempts to show that these difficulties may be overcome if they are reinterpreted in the light of the theory of the intersubjective link. The author examines the theories and the practice of intersubjectivity and gives a definition of his approach to the link between two subjects. He applies these ideas to the case of a sexually masochistic female patient. The countertransference is marked successively by indifference, rejection and smothering. The analysis of the analyst's dream allows the situation to evolve. Failures in primary identification can result in domination over others and utilitarianism. The author examines the place of the challenge to the ‘Law’ and the father (in the attempt by the patient to put a theory to the test) in order to identify the figure of the witness in the pervert's intersubjective links. The desire of the transference would be marked by the figure of the witness rather than by that of the analyst as accomplice.     

Transference,relationship and the analyst as object: Findings from the North American Comparative Clinical Methods Working Party

Data from the North American Comparative Clinical Methods (CCM) Working Party a is used to 1) explore how psychoanalysts in North America conceive and address the transference and the relationship between analyst‐analysand and 2) to study what kinds of ‘objects’ psychoanalysts become, explicitly and implicitly, within psychoanalytic treatments. The North American CCM Working Party closely studied 17 clinical cases presented by North American psychoanalysts across the spectrum of analytic schools at their meetings. We found that the 17 analysts fell into three different groupings according to the internal consistency of their method and their approaches to transference, relationship and analyst‐as ‐object. We also found that analysts' individual work, while heavily influenced by their schools of thought, also involved unique interpretations of their particular paradigms.     

‘The essay method’ a qualitative method for studying therapeutic dialogues

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a qualitative research method for analysing therapeutic dialogues called ‘the essay method’. A central part of the method uses the format of the literary essay as a model. The method consists of a close monitoring of clinical material guided by an overall psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theoretical frame. It combines both clinical details and global patterns of clinical material and is especially fitted for studying relational qualities of psychotherapeutic dialogues. In this paper, the background for qualitative analysis in studying psychoanalytic material is discussed, and the procedures for using the method are demonstrated. A study of therapeutic competence in a group of student therapists is used as an example of the method in practice, demonstrating that the essay method may have potential for revising theory and establishing new concepts based on empirical findings. The essay method is compared with other qualitative methods, and it is argued that it is suitable for psychoanalytic research.