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').     

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.     

The alienness of the unconscious: on Laplanche's theory of seduction

In this paper the author uses a clinical example as a focus for an exploration of his thesis that the parent is the 'other' who implants his or her unconscious message into the child by means of seduction. As the other is alien, the unconscious of the child cannot any longer be considered the centre of the person but is decentred by the implanted alienness. The author draws on Laplanche's seduction theory to argue that the unconscious message of seduction by the other is exclusively sexual and that it cannot be translated nor symbolized because an interpretative system shared by subject and object is lacking. The decentred alterity of the unconscious allows for comparison with a third object and hence a structural triangulation of the mind which is a prerequisite for symbolization. The role of the analyst in permitting a transference enactment and so facilitating the beginning of sexual symbolization is discussed in relation to the clinical example given at the start of the paper.     

Exploring racism

Whilst the concept of 'race' has no basis in genetics or biology, the dynamics of racism pervade all aspects of modern life--including the consulting room. In this paper the relationship between a white therapist and a black patient is explored through an unbidden thought and a verbal slip that occurred in the course of the therapy. The amplification and examination of these unwanted 'slips' are used to shed light on the subtleties of the effects of difference in colour on the relationship. It is argued here that the interaction reflects and illuminates the asymmetrical relationship between 'black' and 'white' in modern-western society. This is then considered using the concepts of the cultural unconscious and social unconscious as ways of understanding the tenacity of racism in ourselves.     

Dissociating prelexical and postlexical processing of affective information in the two hemispheres: effects of the stimulus presentation format

Using a lexical decision task, the authors investigated whether brain asymmetries in the detection of emotionally negative semantic associations arise only at a perceptually discriminative stage at which lexical analysis is accurate or can already be found at crude and incomplete levels of perceptual representation at which word-nonword discrimination is based solely on guessing. Emotionally negative and neutral items were presented near perceptual threshold in the left and right visual hemifields. Word-nonword discrimination performance as well as the bias to classify a stimulus as a "word" (whether or not it actually is a word) were assessed for a normal, horizontal stimulus presentation format (Experiment 1) and for an unusual, vertical presentation format (Experiment 2). Results show that while the two hemispheres are equally able to detect affective semantic associations at a prelexical processing stage (both experiments), the right hemisphere is superior at a postlexical, perceptually discriminative stage (Experiment 2). Moreover, the findings suggest that only an unusual, nonoverlearned stimulus presentation format allows adequate assessment of the right hemisphere's lexical-semantic skills.     

Dismemberment and reintegration: Aztec themes in contemporary Mexican practice

In a depth process the unconscious presents images of destruction. In my analytic work with a female Mexican artist, the themes of destruction and creation alive in her psyche echo the motifs of the pre-Hispanic myth of Coyolxauhqui. I will illustrate the mythological amplifications of the patient's personal material with illustrations of her paintings. I will also discuss how this myth operates in a male patient, and between the masculine and feminine in Mexican culture. Similar images by the German artist Anselm Kiefer refer to the dismembering of the newly discovered lands and government violence against the youth of Mexico.     

Psyche and culture: Perspectives based on the contributions and limits of ethnopsychiatry

The unconscious often appears in the form of a question or answer to the difficult relationship between the psyche and culture, a difficulty that becomes exacerbated when we are dealing with cultural difference. This difficulty, evidenced for example by Freud's thoughts on Islam, reappears, albeit in a very different way, in ethnopsychiatric theory. The author discusses the blind spots of the binary logic of the unconscious present in the work of George Devereux, a logic that eventually leads him into the same trap he had himself criticized. This discussion allows us to open up other perspectives, by moving away from the analogies, confusions and splits between the psyche and culture towards what binds them together. This link is sustained by language and its dialectics, at the crossroads of individual singularity and cultural codifications. The author's approach is supported by two clinical vignettes: one from a case of a young Turkish woman, the other concerning a male Iraqi patient, a survivor of torture. This approach distances itself from any psychocentric view that would see the psyche as closed upon itself and thus ultimately exclude any object‐relations and inter‐subjective relationships; likewise, it rejects the ethnocentric conflation of the subject with his culture.     

Exploring the Online Communicative Themes of Child Sex Offenders

This exploratory study aimed to examine online communications between contact reality and non‐contact fantasy child sex offenders (CSOs). This research wanted to ascertain whether it was possible to differentiate between these offenders based on the content of their online communications, something which has not previously been examined. The sample consisted of five contact reality and seven non‐contact fantasy offenders, all convicted of a Child Sex Offence. Content analysis revealed 26 them. Results showed that non‐contact fantasy offenders discussed Adult sexual relationships significantly more than contact reality offenders. All other comparisons were non‐significant. The themes were then grouped into five higher order themes: (i) Adult relationships, (ii) Child sexual interest, (iii) Media, (iv) Sexual self, and (v) Rapport. The average largest proportion of the online communication related to Child sexual interest (34%) followed by Rapport (28%). There were no significant differences between the two types of offenders in relation to these five higher order themes. Explanations for the findings are discussed with implications for police investigations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teaching Jung in a theological seminary and a graduate school of religion: a response to David Tacey

In this article, in response to Professor Tacey's, I discuss the teaching of depth psychology, and of Jung in particular, in a theological seminary which is also a graduate school of religion. What distinguishes our approach to the teaching of religion at Union is the conviction that no finite theory can capture the whole truth. Our teaching in the program of Psychiatry and Religion is always part of a continuing conversation with other theorists of the unconscious. Thus we avoid the extremes of repudiation and idolization of Jung which Professor Tacey describes. Ours is less a world of disjunction than of conjunction. Resistance in my context focuses on the objectivity of psychic reality, especially the unconscious dimension. Through all of this, happily, closeness of the living psyche to religious life and thought is understood, experienced, and accepted.     

The social unconscious in clinical work

An analyst who is unaware of the constraints of social facts and forces will be insensitive to their unconscious recreation within therapeutic situations, and unable to provide space for patients to imagine how their identities have been formed at particular social and political junctures. The concepts of the social unconscious and of equivalence are defined and located within the traditions of Group Analysis and British Object Relations Theory. A model of maturity is outlined, the central element of which is the willingness and ability to take the role of citizen. These ideas are illustrated with clinical vignettes from psychoanalysis and group analysis.