Sexual metaphor and the language of unconscious phantasy

This paper investigates the attempt to find a 'bedrock' for psychic life in the idea of unconscious phantasy. Through a detailed examination of the development of the concept of unconscious phantasy, especially in Kleinian discourse, it is argued that unconscious phantasies are inherently metaphorical and have no 'concrete' existence in the unconscious. The use of unconscious phantasy as metaphor enables a 'two-way' form of interpretation that describes sexual behaviour and fantasy in terms of object relations (interpreting 'away from sex', while simultaneously describing object relations in terms of the sexual body (interpreting 'towards sex').     

Facts, interpretations, and explanations: a review of Evelyn Fox Keller's Making sense of life

The job of a researcher is to explain the phenomenon that he or she is seeking to understand. To do this requires the accumulation of facts. These facts are then interpreted to arrive at explanations. However, individual researchers often interpret facts in different ways and arrive at disparate explanations. In her book, Making Sense of Life, Evelyn Fox Keller (2002) outlines various approaches used by developmental biologists to understand the animate systems we call life. In this review, I note several parallels between biology and behavior analysis in how facts are discovered, what is an acceptable interpretation of data, and how explanations are arrived at.     

Drawing Memories: Edouard Manet's Remembrances of the Past

The author examines Edouard Manet's quotations of traditional masters in his work. Instead of debating whether Manet simply imitated, competed with, or paid tribute to the great painters of the past, the author suggests that Manet used the depictions of his painterly past not as a remedial but as a deliberate device. By relying primarily on Freud's Interpretation of Dreams and Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, the author interprets the traditional works embedded in Manet's paintings as dream thoughts lying behind a façade. The author examines these depictions as if they were associations and memories of Manet's painterly past and in so doing uncovers Manet's subtle use of the past as a means of articulating social commentaries and of creating dialogues with both his contemporaries as well as his predecessors. Drawing on Freud's idea of deferred action (Nachtraegklichkeit), the author illustrates how Manet reflects upon the present through images of the past while at the same time rearticulating the scenes of the past through the lens of the present.     

Psychotherapists' dreams about their patients

Abstract This study examines therapists’ dreams about their patients from the Jungian and the relational perspectives. Few clinical and empirical references to this subject are to be found in the literature. In the present study 31 dreams were collected from 22 therapists. Dreams were collected using anonymous self‐report inventory. The research focused on three theoretical research questions: 1. What themes appear in the manifest content of therapists’ dreams about their patients? 2. What contributions are made by Jungian interpretation of therapists’ dreams about their patients? 3. To what extent are masochistic contents present in the manifest content of therapists’ dreams about their patients? The first question was addressed using categorical content analysis of a) themes common to different dreams and b) pre‐determined themes for all dreams. The third research question was addressed using Beck's (1967) ‘Masochistic Dream’ measure. Results: Among the themes common to different dreams were: therapist‐patient role reversal; therapist and/or patient attends and remains in meeting, departs/doesn’t depart; cancellation of therapy session; sexuality between therapist and patient; aggression; presence vs. absence; non‐verbal relationship and communication; time; driving vs. stopping. With regard to pre‐determined themes it was found that in 20 of the 31 dreams, the therapist had a negative experience and was characterized as vulnerable. Likewise it was found that 26 out of 31 dreams took place in either a) a street, a road, a route, a corridor; b) en route to somewhere; c) a therapy room and/or building; d) a house. With regard to the contribution of Jungian interpretations of the dreams it was found that 17 of the dreams had diagnostic and prognostic elements, 4 of which were initial dreams, 9 of them were compensatory dreams and in 14 it was found that the patient represents the shadow of the therapist. With regard to the third question it was found that 18 of the 31 dreams met Beck's (1967) criteria for masochistic dreams. The theoretical discussion examines the findings from a Jungian perspective, with an emphasis on also understanding the dream in terms of its expression of relational aspects of the therapist‐patient relationship. The findings affirm the presence of the ‘wounded healer’ archetypes in therapists’ dreams about their patients. The results of the study indicate that therapists’ dreams about their patients can be a valuable tool for deepening understanding of the therapeutic relationship and process.     

A GENERALIZED CONCEPTION OF TEXT APPLIED TO BOTH SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS OBJECTS

Abstract. The idea of a text is reviewed and reconstructed to facilitate the application of concepts of interpretation to the objects analyzed in the natural sciences, as well as to objects analyzed in religion and literature. Four criteria—-readability, formality, material transcendence, and retrievability—-are proposed as the basis for a generalized conception of text. Objects in both religion and science, not previously thought to be texts, are shown to be included in the new definition and therefore to be potential subjects of developing methods of interpretation.     

Logic programming,probability, and two-system accounts of reasoning: a rejoinder to Oaksford and Chater (2014)

This reply to Oaksford and Chater’s (O&C)’s critical discussion of our use of logic programming (LP) to model and predict patterns of conditional reasoning will frame the dispute in terms of the semantics of the conditional. We begin by outlining some common features of LP and probabilistic conditionals in knowledge-rich reasoning over long-term memory knowledge bases. For both, context determines causal strength; there are inferences from the absence of certain evidence; and both have analogues of the Ramsey test. Some current work shows how a combination of counting defeaters and statistics from network monitoring can provide the information for graded responses from LP reasoning. With this much introduction, we then respond to O&C’s specific criticisms and misunderstandings.     

Boundary and analytic attitude: reflections on a summer holiday break

The effect of a boundary in analytic work at the summer holiday break is discussed in relation to archetypal experiences of exclusion, loss and limitation. Some attempts by patients to mitigate an analyst's act of separation are reviewed as enactments, and in particular the meanings of a gift made by one patient. Analytic attitude towards enactment from within different schools of practice is sketched, with reference to the effect on the analyst of departing from the received practice of their own allegiance. A theory is adumbrated that the discomfort of ‘contravening the rules’ has a useful effect in sparking the analyst into consciousness, with greater attention to salient features in an individual case. Interpretation as an enactment is briefly considered, along with the possible effects of containing the discomfort of a patient's enactment in contrast to confronting it with interpretation.     

The riddle of Siegfried: exploring methods and psychological perspectives in analytical psychology

Jung's dream of the killing of Siegfried poses a riddle: why did the unconscious choose precisely Siegfried as the hero to be murdered? Jung himself declares that he does not know. This paper attempts to decipher this riddle using three distinct methodological approaches accepted by Jung, two of them in fact grounded in his theories of dream interpretation. Besides presenting some possible answers to the riddle of Siegfried, this interpretative reflection brings to light the discrepancy of the psychological perspectives created by the heterogeneity of methods within analytical psychology.