The Times We Sizzle,and the Times We Sigh: The Multiple Erotics of Arousal,Anticipation, and Release |
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| Authors: | Dr. Jody Messler Davies Ph.D. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Psychoanalytic Dialogues: A Journal of Relational Perspectives;2. New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis;3. International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy;4. Stephen A Mitchell Center for Relational Psychoanalysis;5. Treating the Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Psychoanalytic Perspective |
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| Abstract: | This paper explores the perspective that an optimal degree of sexual frustration is an absolutely necessary and irreducible dimension of sexual excitement and pleasure. The pleasure, in fact, is predicated on actual enjoyment of the frustration, of being able to tolerate mounting bodily arousal, excitement, and tension without any guarantee of immediate satisfaction and release. The author explores the particular object relational implications of this unique aspect of sexual experience, elaborating a model that suggests two different interacting but separate subsystems of erotic fantasy, in interaction with very different self/ other configurations. The first of these self/other organizations is organized and defined by moments of sexual arousal and yearning, whereas the second occurs around those defined by satisfaction, pleasure, and release. An extended clinical example is provided. |
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