Transference, the transcendent function, and transcendence

People in analysis come into direct contact with the transcendent – that which surpasses not only our ego consciousness but the whole psyche – through the transcendent function working in the transference–countertransference field. Reductive and synthetic methods of interpretation of transference, in both objective and subjective levels of meaning, inaugurate moving the ego out of center stage into the process of relating to the Self. The transcendent function is the means of enlarging psychic space in the transference field to make room for coinciding opposites and a 'creative solution' that arises from their conversation. That solution, or set of symbols, addresses us with such compelling authority that Jung likens it to 'the voice of God', A clinical case illustrates the connection of transference, the transcendent function, and the experience of the transcendent which, I believe, we must identify as such in order to go on relating to it.     

Estimating latent distributions

Consider vectors of item responses obtained from a sample of subjects from a population in which ability is distributed with densityg(), where the are unknown parameters. Assuming the responses depend on through a fully specified item response model, this paper presents maximum likelihood equations for the estimation of the population parameters directly from the observed responses; i.e., without estimating an ability parameter for each subject. Also provided are asymptotic standard errors and tests of fit, computing approximations, and details of four special cases: a non-parametric approximation, a normal solution, a resolution of normal components, and a beta-binomial solution.The author would like to thank R. Darrell Bock for his comments, suggestions, and encouragement during the course of this work.     

From Neurotic Guilt to Existential Guilt as Grief: The Road to Interiority, Agency, and Compassion Through Mourning. Part II

This study is a continuation of an article that was published in the previous issue of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis (Volume 66, Number 3, September 2006). The case of Helen is illustrated in terms of the analysand’s developmental mourning, countertransference, interiority, antilibidinal ego, and transformation of aggression into self-agency.Susan Kavaler-Adler, Ph.D., ABPP, is Founder and Executive Director, Training Analyst, Faculty Member, and Supervisor at the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York.     

The transferential chimera: a clinical approach

The author presents four quite different clinical situations which he believes show the development of an aspect of the transference as a genuinely autonomous psychical neo-reality of the transferential inter-space, which, in the words of Michel de M'Uzan, he calls the transferential chimera. Basing himself on a reading of 'The psychology of the transference', he goes on to propose a more general application of this particular transferential dynamic whose origin lies in matriarchal incest and which develops around the alchemical quaternio of the cross-projective space of the transference-counter transference and in the analytic setting. Finally, he examines the four clinical situations in the light of this application of the transference in order to propound an understanding of his reading, and proposes a hypothesis for the constitution of the transferential chimera out of the intermingling of the de-integrated parts of the self of the analyst and those of the analysand.     

Postmodern consciousness in psychotherapy

Modern consciousness is a cultural and historical achievement in the West and a developmental task for each person now. Modern consciousness consists in the emancipation from the power of community, animistic nature and the unconscious. It is connected with neurosis and psychotherapy because it has to do with inner conflicts. But today there is an increasing number of cases which are characterized by dissociation and acting out, without the feeling of conflicts. Consciousness seems to be changing toward a new conception which might be called 'postmodern consciousness'. The essence of postmodern consciousness is shown by interpreting two dreams internally. The first dream from a case of depersonalization indicates that it is not necessary to be entangled with the object. There is a different kind of coniunctio in the mode of seeing. The second dream from a case of dissociative disorder shows a world which has neither traces of pre-modern cosmology-high and low, here and the beyond-nor modern interiority. There is only surface and self-reflection without content. The discussion of dreams suggests that postmodern consciousness is not to be understood as premature and pathological. It is therapeutically important to refine and deepen postmodern consciousness.     

National glorification and attachment differentially predict support for intergroup conflict resolution: Scrutinizing cross-country generalizability

Research on national identity distinguishes between national glorification and attachment. We tested whether glorification and attachment differentially predicted support for military and diplomatic conflict resolution strategies (CRS) in response to international conflicts. Using data collected in seven countries (Australia, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, China; total N = 1784), we investigated whether glorification and attachment can be equivalently measured (using tests of measurement invariance) and whether their relationships with CRS were generalizable across countries. The results revealed metric, but not scalar, measurement invariance of the two-factor structure of national identification across six countries, excluding China. Among these six countries, glorification predicted more support for military CRS, whereas attachment predicted more support for diplomatic CRS. Our study is novel in scrutinizing the cross-cultural generalizability of the bi-dimensional model of national identification. Implications for studying national identification and intergroup conflict cross-culturally are discussed.     

A new experimental method to identify the process of logical reasoning

Abstract: A new method to identify the process of logical reasoning is presented. In spite of its indispensability and importance, we have had few methods to identify a subject's reasoning process, except that of using verbal protocol data. In this paper, for the purpose of objective identification of the reasoning process, we propose a new method to obtain the subject's reasoning process, in terms of a resolution tree for a task of which the logical structure can be written by first-order predicate logic. The results of an experiment using this method are presented. They revealed some interesting features of human reasoning such as, large differences between subjects, remarkable parallel processes, and the existence of subgoals for each subject.     

The role of disbalance between “natural school” and informational overloading in genesis of stress reactions

Data obtained during 15 years supervision over teenagers indicate the influence of the socialeconomic deformations of the former Soviet society. We use the term natural school to denote the whole ontogenesis of human beings including the first 3- to 5-year period of a child's life when children perceive a surrounding microcosm, their bodies and abilities, and acquire a basic fund of native language skills and habits. Natural school balances a person's mental and physical activities and through the trials and mistakes provides every person with a sphere of friends, important for coping with stress by sharing sorrows and joys. The twentieth century brought informational overloading, the triad, consisting of: (1) enormous mass of information; (2) deficit of time for using it; and (3) high motivation of activity. These conditions restrict the physical activity (hypodynamy) and contact with children of the same age (social deprivation). The influence over a person's development takes place mainly in ones youth, when one seeks his/her place in society. Subsequent stress situations cause the following psychopathological reactions: anxiety, anxiety and frustration, vegeto-dystonic reactions and somatic discomfort, panic attacks, neurosis. Later, disorders of autonomic regulations and somatic discomfort leads to psychosomatic diseases. Preventive measures, like skills minimizing hypodynamy and tools to improve soul's confession seem to be a way of minimizing disbalance and decreasing psychosomatic disorders.     

Female perversion: scenes and strategies in analysis and culture

The author presents some ideas derived from observation in analysis about differing positions of Freud and Jung on perversion and about probable differences in perverse structural elements of women in contrast to men. In general perversion is understood as a defence of the self; in particular with women it is seen as a defensive way of achieving a false wholeness, a pseudo-androgyny. A case study describes the unfolding of a perverted transference. The importance of reaching the analyst and being understood by the analyst through projective identification is stressed. Quite often a sexually abusing mother seems to play an important role in generating female perversion; the implications in analysis are discussed as well as some ideas about culture and gender.