Critical Notice

Book reviewed in this article:
Alister, Ian and Hauke, Christopher (eds.), Contemporary Jungian Analysis. Post-Jungian Perspectives from the Society of Analytical Psychology     

Memory for the Events of Early Childhood

There has been much recent interest in the phenomenon of childhood amnesia, the difficulty most adults have in recalling at least the first 3 years of life. In contrast, it has been shown that infants 18 months of age or less can retain information over long periods. Although there is no agreed-upon explanation of this paradoxical phenomenon, there are proposed biological, cognitive, and social-cognitive explanations. Distinguishing among these accounts involves investigating both adults' memories for childhood events and the mnemonicabilities of young children. These studies may not only reveal the reason why our earliest years are shrouded from us as adults, but also shed light on the memory processes that allow us a rich representation of the remainder of our personal past.     

Dream actors in the theatre of memory: Their role in the psychoanalytic process2

The author notes that neuropsychological research has discovered the existence of two long‐term memory systems, namely declarative or explicit memory, which is conscious and autobiographical, and non‐declarative or implicit memory, which is neither conscious nor verbalisable. It is suggested that pre‐verbal and pre‐symbolic experience in the child's primary relations is stored in implicit memory, where it constitutes an unconscious nucleus of the self which is not repressed and which influences the person's affective, emotional, cognitive and sexual life even as an adult. In the analytic relationship this unconscious part can emerge essentially through certain modes of communication (tone of voice, rhythm and prosody of the voice, and structure and tempo of speech), which could be called the ‘musical dimension’ of the transference, and through dream representations. Besides work on the transference, the critical component of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis is stated to consist in work on dreams as pictographic and symbolic representations of implicit pre‐symbolic and pre‐verbal experiences. A case history is presented in which dream interpretation allowed some of a patient's early unconscious, non‐repressed experiences to be emotionally reconstructed and made thinkable even though they were not actually remembered.     

Countertransference as active imagination: imaginative experiences of the analyst

Active imagination is at the heart of Jung's elucidation of depth psychology. Yet, in the discourse of present day analytical psychology theory it is not always given the serious attention accorded to some other Jungian concepts. Active imagination emerges spontaneously within the 'third' area--the imaginal or dynamic field--in-between patient and analyst. It is commonly regarded as the patient's experience but I am proposing that, looked upon as the analyst's experience as well, active imagination offers a distinctly Jungian way of understanding some forms of countertransference. I am describing what I think many present-day analytical psychologists already do in their clinical practice but, as far as I know, it has not been theorized in quite this way before. The intention is to exploit the unique contribution of our Jungian heritage by reframing certain profoundly symbolic countertransference-generated imagery as active imagination. In this article these are differentiated from other less complex forms of imaginative countertransference through examples from clinical practice. The point is that such countertransference experiences may activate the symbolic function in the analyst and thus contribute to the mediation of emergent consciousness in the analysand.     

Don't get stuck in the mother: regression in analysis

This paper was part of an afternoon workshop on regression. It re views the author's recollections of her own analysis and clinical work with the purpose of discovering the sources of her own ideas on regression. Two specific forms of regression are then delineated – negative therapeutic reaction as described by Rosenfeld and 'umbilical transference' as a possible future development.     

Psychotherapy for lesbians: The influence of therapist sexuality

This study explored the influence of therapist sexuality upon lesbian experiences of therapy, and particularly the influence of marginal and dominant discourses within the process. It is argued that explorations of discourses of sexuality should be a necessary feature of a psychotherapist's training. A postmodern feminist methodology — Bungay and Keddy's adaptation of Reinharz's experiential analysis — was used in the study. This method involved triangulation of interview, literature analysis and reflective diary methods, with analysis drawing upon a discourse analytic perspective. Two sites of contradiction were explored, indicating the possible emergence of resistant lesbian discourses against the dominant patriarchal, heterosexist and homophobic discourses. The study illustrates the discursive and contextual nature of psychotherapy with lesbians.     

Emotional reality: A further contribution to dramatology

This paper is a further contribution to dramatology, introduced in this journal in 2009. It focuses on the two basic modes of communication in any dramatic situation: (1) the nonverbal transfer of feelings and emotions, originating in the preverbal period of the love relationship between mother and child, and (2) the interchange of words and thoughts that develops with the acquisition of language. The early nonverbal mode of communication is the basis for proposing to rename Freud's concept of psychic reality “emotional reality.” On this view, emotional reality is seen as the primary fact of psychological life versus thoughts expressed in words as the derivative fact. Developmentally, emotions and ideas become united in complexes combining the emotional coloration of ideas and the ideational content of emotions. From the perspective of methodology, Freud, his followers, and his critics all conflated theories of disorder and theories of treatment. At the beginning of his journey, Freud was dyadic and interpersonal in formulating a unified theory of disorder and a method of treatment. In later years, he formulated monadic and intrapersonal theories of disorder while remaining interpersonal in his method of treatment, contributing to conflicts among the various psychoanalytic schools.     

Incest in Jung's work: the origins of the epistomophilic instinct

In this paper the differences between Jung's and Freud's writings on incest are explored. Jung's view is that the purpose of the child's sexual interest, as expressed also in his incestuous longings, is not purely the satisfaction of the biological instinct but is more importantly seen to be the development of thinking. The importance of the incest taboo for analytic work and the dangers of enactment of the erotic transference-countertransference dynamics are highlighted.