THE SECOND SPHERE AND THE STORY OF NO STORY

The author discusses Roy Schafer's ideas of the second self and second reality, as well as his consistent theme of storyteller and story. The latter theme is also explored in the context of more recent psychoanalytic influences, such as Bionian thought, trauma theory, the French approach, and the interpersonal perspective. To illustrate the idea of the nonstory in today's clinical encounters, the author presents two clinical vignettes.     

PSYKOANALYTISKT ORIENTERAD PSYKOTERAPI

The increasing discourse of the concept of intersubjectivity in modern psychoanalysis has pushed the interest in the intrapsychic and its emphasis on drive and object into the background. Authors who wish to avoid a one-sided focus on intersubjectivity usually subscribe to a dual dimensional approach, taking both perspectives into account. In this article, the analytic situation is described not in two, but in three dimensions, the analytic function constituting a third dimension necessary for the interplay between the other two dimensions. Focusing on the analyst's position, the author presents a model that consists of (1) the-analyst-as-subject, (2) the-analyst-as-function, and (3) the-analyst-as-object. The analytic function is understood to be invested with a particular form of desire and it is argued that the asymmetry between this desire of the analyst and the desire of the analysand is a central characteristic of the analytic situation.     

On creating a psychoanalytic mind

The term process knowledge is introduced to highlight a particular way of analyzing that centers on how our patients gain knowledge. It is suggested that analyzing with heightened awareness to process knowledge is crucial for the patients' capacity for self-analysis, and differs from helping patients primarily gain knowledge of their unconscious fantasies and conflicts as the primary curative factor in psychoanalysis.     

Causes,Counterfactuals, and Non-Locality

In order to motivate the thesis that there is no single concept of causation that can do justice to all of our core intuitions concerning that concept, Ned Hall has argued that there is a conflict between a counterfactual criterion of causation and the condition of causal locality. In this paper I critically examine Hall's argument within the context of a more general discussion of the role of locality constraints in a causal conception of the world. I present two strategies that defenders of counterfactual accounts of causation can pursue to respond to Hall's challenge—including the adoption of a counterfactual condition that is sufficient for causal action-at-a-distance in place of Hall's ‘process’ condition—and conclude that Hall's argument against counterfactual accounts of causation is unsuccessful.     

Uses and abuses of theory: a group analytic perspective

Group therapy occupies a curious and ambiguous status in the overall mental health field: groups are recognized and marginalized, sought after and avoided, respected and dismissed as second best to individual therapy. Groups are now practised widely in many services, probably because of the pressure of referrals and increased concern about funding, but even then have a secondary status. The under-recognition of both the value and complexity of groups seems to parallel the problems of theory which are part of the group psychotherapeutic culture. Rather than attempt a comprehensive theory of groups in this article, I intend to present some of the problems about theory and its link to practice, focusing particularly on the ambivalence about groups that I see as a continuing concern. I do so from a position which values theory, seeing in theory the container of understanding which guides psychotherapeutic practice. I do not identify with a critical position which rejects theory. This position recognizes fully the risks and dangers of over-theorizing, the potential to distort human contact through a rigid adherence to theory; however, I write in the spirit of appreciating theory thoughtfully applied as without theory, our work might be impoverished and even impeded.     

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF BION'S THOUGHT

Following up Bion's idea that dreaming is a continuous process that takes place in waking life as well as in sleep, the author develops its theoretical and technical implications. He describes the narrative derivatives of waking dream thought as the means, or interface, whereby access may be had, albeit indirectly, to the constantly forming sequences of alpha-elements. Examples of the formation of these sequences out of childhood memories, present-day experiences and sexual feelings are given. Reference is also made to the notion of the analytic field. The author goes on to demonstrate the clinical value of these concepts both for studying the session's microtransformations and as a means of in-depth examination of the analyst's own mental functioning, including its lapses, in a session. Abundant clinical material is presented to help analysts who normally apply different models of the mind share these ideas. Finally, it is suggested that night dreams result from a further elaboration of the elements formed during waking life.     

CONSIDERATIONS ON DEPRESSIVE CONFLICT AND ITS DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INTENSITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR TECHNIQUE

This article considers the problem of depressive conflict (DC) and the difficulties that arise in integrating aggression towards the object of libidinal cathexis. This conflict results, in particular, from the destructive omnipotence that infantile fantasies attribute to the aggression. In order to better clarify Klein's very broad concept of the depressive position, three levels of severity of depressive conflict are proposed, depending on the type of fantasies concerning the loss of the object that predominate in the individual. These are: fantasies of catastrophic and irreparable destruction of the object ('parapsychotic' DC); fantasies of death and serious damage of the object ('para-depressive' DC); and fantasies of rejection and loss of the love of the object ('para-neurotic' DC). Having looked at these theoretical hypotheses, their implications for technique will then be considered, particularly the importance of focusing the interpretation on guilt feelings rather than on drives in the transferential relationship. A clinical example drawn from the work of Klein and a clinical vignette of a particularly difficult analysis illustrate this technical hypothesis.