Living by the manual: Ego-oriented social character – pathogenic effects of globalization

Abstract

According to Erich Fromm and a relational psychoanalytic approach, changing economic and social requirements always impact human beings and their psychic structure. Because globalization leads particularly to a blurring of boundaries and limitations, the formation of a new character orientation that is driven to construct reality anew without limitations can be observed as a reaction in progress. The pathogenic effects of globalization can be studied through the analysis of this new character formation and the uncovering of repressed, unconscious feelings that characterize the new personality type, especially in regard to their sense of identity, their way of relating to others, and their de facto loss of ego strength – in contrast to the enacted “ego unlimited.” Finally, some aspects of transference and countertransference, as well as some particular defense reactions with which we psychoanalysts are confronted in the treatment of patients suffering from the pathogenic effects of globalization, will be discussed.     

Ex cathedra : Teaching,transference and knowledge 1

This paper explores the ex cathedra effect in psychoanalysis. It starts with the impact of the analyst's chair (cathedra) on the ‘knowledge’ derived from the analytic exchange–in particular, the structural alignment between the analyst and the client, and the ex cathedra authority transferred to analytic interpretations. It is argued that this authority–and the compulsion to ‘know’ that underlies it–is inevitably subverted by the unconscious processes it attempts to capture (through knowledge), in particular by transference, whose embossed and hollowed out forms, and various contusive elaborations (the bezoaric, caddis, karaoke and medusa effects), vitiate the linearity and closure of a set cognitive system (knowledge). The paper then moves on to examine how this ex cathedra effect has impacted on teaching–the transferral of this knowledge in trainings, notably in universities, where psychoanalysis has become a ‘discipline’, and how transference effects have inevitably and variously subverted (some may say corrupted) the teaching process. In particular, it suggests that the academic validation of clinical trainings hides an ex cathedra dogmatism–a pretence of formal knowledge and critical assessment which forecloses creative engagement with the unconscious.     

The social unconscious in persons,groups and societies,volume 1: Mainly theory,edited by Earl Hopper and Heim Weinberg

This paper looks at some instances of young children learning in a school setting, and suggests that ‘emotional learning’ is an integral part of the apparently ‘cognitive’ learning that takes place in school. The paper uses object relations psychoanalysis in order to explore some of the more-or-less hidden emotional states of mind that accompany difficulties and successes with school learning. Three extracts are presented from observations of young children coming to terms with reading and writing. Each of these is then discussed, with the aim of showing how learning always takes place in a dynamic, relational emotional context. From the theoretical perspective outlined in this article, all learning involves unconscious ‘object relating’. Things to be learnt about, and people requiring learning, or assisting with it, are the bearers of the learner's vivid unconscious ‘transferences’. Such transferences colour the learner's emotional experience of the people and things around him or her, constituting a dynamic, internally experienced, ‘emotional context’ for learning. While this emotional context may be partly subjective, it is also more or less affected by others' feeling states, pulling the learner into a shared learning environment which is emotionally complex and inter-subjective.     

Circulating emotions,beliefs and fantasies: The Middle East and the West1

Abstract

Much ink has been spilt analysing racism, ethnicity and ‘otherness’. These analyses are frequently sophisticated, nuanced and committed to delivering improved ethical, emotional and political relationships. As we have witnessed recently, however, emotions, beliefs and fantasies remain stubborn. We are all diminished (no matter our history) by these troublesome psychic processes, entrenched beliefs and unthinking assumptions that pulse away unchecked. Feelings of fear and hatred sit alongside complex identifications and disavowal of self and other. This contemporary political and social context is loaded with discourses of a ‘clash of civilization’, the otherness of Muslims and Islam and a dominant view which asserts that Western societies have to be protected from potential explosions of terrorism and the corrosion of Western values. These discourses impact on citizens and erode the possibilities of inter-connectedness and a sense of shared communality. This paper is an exploration of a specific example of intransigence.     

Mind the gap: On learning a foreign language in an adult education institute

Abstract

This article speculates on why adults wish to learn a foreign language and reflects on the learning process itself, as it progresses in an adult education course.     

The double-edged pen: Omnipotent fantasies in the creativity and addictions of Stephen King

The legendary debate over whether a connection between creativity and addictions exists is one that is shrouded in mystery and intrigue, but also one that continuously returns to the circuitous metaphor of the chicken and the egg. In an effort to better understand nuances in the relationship between creativity and addictions, this paper examines the life of Stephen King, and the omnipotent fantasies from which both his creative processes and addictive behaviours emerged. Since the early twentieth century, psychodynamic thinkers have highlighted omnipotent fantasies as a psychological force driving creative processes as efforts towards personal transformation. Similarly, numerous psychodynamic theories have highlighted omnipotent fantasies as playing a cardinal role in the psychological processes that propel substance abuse. And yet, the construct of omnipotence has yet to be examined as a theoretical bridge to bind such theories of creativity and substance abuse together. While fostering personal meaning and self-transformation when manifested in his creative writing processes, omnipotent fantasies have also lead Stephen King down a precarious path of addictive behaviours. Through a narrative analysis of the life of Stephen King, who has written in great depth about both his creativity and substance abuse, I will illustrate how omnipotent fantasies often shape and foster both healthy, creative processes towards growth and maladaptive, addictive impulses towards self-destruction.     

The Role of the Therapist's Subjectivity: Using Countertransference in Psychotherapy

No abstract available for this article.     

Remembering Herb

Abstract

This paper discusses treatment of an incest survivor who suffered a crippling sense of guilt. The work of discovering and understanding the unconscious fantasies that accompanied the patient's early traumatic experiences led to the alleviation of her misplaced guilt and to more adaptive compromise formations. It is necessary to understand and address the unconscious fantasies attached to the incest, as intellectual awareness of inappropriate guilt does not suffice to diminish it.     

Conscious and Unconscious Use of Self: The Evolution of a Process

Recent emphasis has been placed on the central role of the therapeutic relationship in successful treatment. One aspect of the development of an effective relationship is the clinical social worker's use of self. We argue that the use of self happens both consciously and unconsciously and is a dynamic and evolving process in psychotherapy. This evolution can result in the clinical social worker shifting from a stance of doing to being. Drawing from a Japanese tradition of learning, three stages of learning provide a framework for understanding how therapists may transition from a state of doing to being in the therapy. Through this process, the conscious use of self may develop into unconscious use of self. Two case examples demonstrate how expanding and using one's self-awareness and the new knowledge through meaningful learning experiences can shift a clinical social worker's ability to develop and enhance his or her use of self, inviting therapeutic presence and depth.     

The developmental/emergent model of archetype, its implications and its application to shamanism

This paper addresses the ongoing debate in the JAP to do with archetype theory and supports an emergent/developmental model which sees archetypal imagery as an emergent phenomenon arising out of neural bio-structures laid down in early infant life as a result of developmental experience. This model is supported by the current findings of those developmental biologists who adhere to Developmental Systems Theory. The themes of Developmental Systems Theory are examined and corroborative parallels are drawn with the model. A number of implications follows: the model has substantial explanatory power and leads to a new perspective on innatism; it implies an archetype-environment nexus; it collapses the nature-nurture debate in relation to archetype theory; it collapses the 'sacred heritage' approach to archetypes and it removes the conceptual division between the collective and personal unconscious. This developmental/emergent perspective is then applied to the shaman archetype, using ethnographic records of the Sakha (Yakut) Siberian tribe. The material supports the hypothesis that the shamanic complex is laid down in early infancy by a combination of events which cause emotional ruptures in the mother-infant dyad. Siberian shamanism is then understood to arise out of developmental experience and not from the constellation of an autochthonous archetype.