Is There Still Time?

In this article we intend to discuss the psychoanalysis of elderly patients and, also, to review certain prejudices that are based upon the psychoanalytic technique and theory.     

Eating Disorders: A Bond between Medicine,Culture and Psychoanalysis

Action in connection with the therapeutic process is often equated with acting out. The subtle behaviour that belongs to ?the complicated system of transmitting and receiving unconscious signals? (Sandler), with which the patient attempts to make the analyst behave as the object of transference or to fulfill an unconscious desire, is also described as acting out or micro-acting out (Treurniet). This fine-grained action, however, means nothing; it is not symbolic or communicative action. Its intention is, rather, to trigger effects and induce interactions. It occurs not only on the side of the analysand but also on that of the analyst, and is part of the unconscious communication in the therapeutic process. Presented here are some of the various interactive ways and means with which the analyst is prompted into unconscious action and certain, unnoticed, ways in that he turn ?treats? the patient. The analyst's action responses can bear the character of interpretations with which he may unintentionally reveal how he regards the behaviour of the patient.     

Looking a Hundred Years Back: Remarks on the Concept of "Wishing" in Psychoanalysis

While the concepts of "wish" and "wish fulfillment" have indeed remained central since the start of classical psychoanalysis, they are only weakly anchored both in theory and practice. It has become common today for psychoanalysts to use the term "to wish" in the sense of "to want" or "to intend." As a first step, it will be emphasized that "wish" should not be constructed along the lines of "intention." An examination of the relationship of "wish" to "wish fulfillment" is then followed by an evaluation of its practical significance for psychoanalysis and for our understanding of mental life in a general sense. Turning to an example dream sequence, we will arrive at the psychoanalytic core of the issue: the assumption of hidden, non-obvious, non-recognizable wish fulfillment scenarios. At this point in the discussion, a method of access will be sketched out - the dramaturgical approach - that, although it makes use of the idea of free association, does so in a manner that diverges from Freud's original recommendation.