Psychoanalytic Perspective Research Articles

Why I Read

The author, Submissions Editor of Psychoanalytic Perspectives for the past five years, surveys the several reasons he likes reading analytic writing as much as he does. He cites its usefulness as psychoanalytic companion, psychoanalytic supervisor, and midwife of an aliveness that is its own reward.

Coming Home (2014) and Its Symptoms

This paper is an in-depth analysis of the Chinese movie Coming Home (2014), which mimics the way trauma works and brings the problem of memory into focus. I draw on a psychoanalytic perspective to interpret the storyline, characters, and metaphoric meaning embedded in the construction of the film. My analysis focuses on three symptoms displayed: forgetting, repetition, and historical void. As the most successful Cultural Revolution-related film in the Chinese-speaking world, Coming Home confronts the phenomenon of cultural amnesia and visualizes the subjective experience of struggling to remember.

Shame and Self-Alienation: A Trauma-Informed Psychoanalytic Perspective

ABSTRACT Self-alienation is an expression of deeply internalized shame. The self-alienated individual feels trapped, imprisoned by shame. Psychotherapy patients with significant relational trauma typically reveal a persistent internal battle against self-doubt, self-condemnation, and often self-loathing. They are referencing shameful fears and beliefs about themselves that are born from problematic attachment and developmental experiences. The author provides illustrations of work with self-alienated individuals integrating psychoanalytic principles with concepts from contemporary traumatology, with a focus on helping patients develop self-compassion as the chief agent of therapeutic healing and growth.

A Psychoanalytic Approach to Internet Gaming Disorder.

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is now an official diagnosis and significant public health challenges have been already identified regarding the provision of appropriate care to patients of all ages and the preparedness of mental health professionals to manage the disorder. Despite the existence of psychotherapeutic treatment modalities available for some time now, there is a paucity of any psychoanalytically driven treatments and the disorder is widely regarded and classified as being 'behavioral'. This has profound implications for patients with long-standing character pathology and psychiatric comorbidities, who are underserved by the provision of health services that could efficiently address their issues. This study presents a psychoanalytic perspective on IGD, based on Kohut's Self Psychology as applied in the treatment of other addictions. An outline of the theory, assessment and treatment modalities is presented with two case reports that illustrate its application. The presentation outlines the challenges in treating IGD, expanding on the concept of guided imagery, resistance to treatment, selfobject transference and comorbidity with marijuana use and bipolar disorder. A psychoanalytically driven protocol can be effective in treating IGD, especially in cases with marked character pathology and low motive to engage in other treatment modalities.

Motivation: A Critical Consideration of Freud and Rogers’ Seminal Conceptualisations

Humans vary in many aspects of their psychology with differences routinely found in patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, setting individuals apart across time and place. Though many psychologists have attempted to account for these individual differences, one area that has continued to generate interest and disagreement is the concept of motivation. Today, understanding behavioural motivation remains one of the most important questions facing personality theorists. In an attempt to better account for human motivation, the present exploration reviews seminal theoretical positions put forward by Sigmund Freud from a Psychoanalytical perspective and contrastingly, that of Carl Rogers from the Humanistic approach. Critical consideration is specifically applied to how verifiable each perspective may be and the degree of empirical support either account has attained to date. Whilst understanding human motivation is not a new endeavour, the present exploration provides a contemporary critical assessment of traditional psychological explanations.

The Role of Early Trauma in the Formation of Belief in Reptilian Conspiracy Theories: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

This paper investigates whether conspiracy theories arising during the COVID‐19 pandemic are linked to early trauma or a specific organization of the mind. Using the Reptilian conspiracy theory as an example, the paper proposes that belief in conspiracy theories can activate unresolved memories of trauma and serve as a mediator between the psyche and intrusive content. Classic psychoanalytic concepts, as well as more modern ideas from Britton and Steiner, are explored to understand the role of early trauma and inner object relations dynamics in the development of Belief in Reptilian Conspiracy Theories (BiCT). The concept of après‐coup is introduced to explain how newer responses to familiar psychic experiences may shape beliefs in conspiracies. Additionally, the paper proposes that belief in conspiracy theories can function as a psychic retreat. Two clinical cases are presented to illustrate these ideas while maintaining anonymity.

Sublimation and drives in sports: a psychoanalytic perspective

ABSTRACT In continuation with my on-going research and presentations on sport as a field of channeling and externalizing cruelty and violence, as a field of transfiguration of drives, in this paper I will examine instincts, drives and sublimation in Freud and post-Freudian psychoanalytic literature within the context of sports. Freud was influenced by Nietzsche on his drive theory; however, in Freud it assumes a specific meaning and finds its place within the context of his overall psychoanalytic work, especially in relation to his second topology of the human psyche that consists of id, ego and superego and his theory of sublimation. Ultimately, Freud reduces all drives to Eros and Thanatos and explains their workings in relation to the constitution of the psyche. Sublimation has a direct correlation to drives, which is a culture/individual specific way of treating and channeling drives; sublimation also has much to do with suffering and how we deal with suffering (and other emotions as I discuss in my book, Emotion in Sports). What I would like to explore in this paper is to understand in what ways sport is a form of sublimation and how sport may address the subject of drives, both Eros and Thanatos. Since Freud sees both of these drives as bound together in many contexts, does sport constitute one of those areas? What type of psychic constitution does the sporting culture assume? Or, to put it differently, what are the dynamic relations of the different parts of the human psyche, the id, the ego and the superego, in the practice of sport and in the community of sports? Here and elsewhere, in agreement with Jung, I will include discussion of ‘collective unconscious’, as I explore the significance of symbols of sport in the life of individuals and cultures.

Clinical Advances in Treatment Strategies for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder in Adults.

In the present article, we provide a comprehensive review of the treatment strategies for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a common, chronic, and often debilitating disorder, characterized by overwhelming obsessions and compulsions. OCD typically starts in childhood or adolescence and persists throughout life, causing functional impairment across multiple domains. The article begins by describing the historical concepts of OCD from religious and guilt-based explanations to psychoanalytic perspectives, and then explores the changing understanding of OCD as a treatable condition. Recent advances include the development of evidence-based psychological treatments, such as exposure and response prevention, and pharmacological treatments, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the International Classification of Diseases, has removed OCD from the anxiety disorder grouping and regrouped it into obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. We conclude by highlighting the current state of knowledge and development in the clinical management of OCD, including recommendations for first- and second-line treatments, alternative, or augmentative strategies for and novel agents under investigation for OCD. In future, the latest advances in neuroimaging, electrophysiology, digital technology, and data-driven analysis will help elucidate the pathophysiology of OCD and develop personalized intervention strategies.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE FILM “MATRIX RESURRECTIONS” IN THE CONTEXT OF JUNGIAN CONCEPT OF ARCHETYPE

While the common ground of art and popular culture products is human creativity, popular culture products, as the name suggests, are the products of the people. But it is possible that the productions that the public will like, turn into mass culture today, where the economic determinant is dominant. However, regardless of its basic motivation, it is possible to say that every work that contains the core of creativity has a relationship with the unconscious, which is the field of creativity. What can we see by considering movies with an analytical psychology approach? What do these productions, which contain elements from myths, fairy tales and dreams, tell us from the field of the unconscious?The Matrix series has managed to impress the audience since the first movie was released and attracted the attention of many researchers from different fields. In this study, the relationship of cinema with myth, dream, and fairy tale is evaluated from a psychoanalytic perspective, and the Matrix series and especially the last film of the series, The Matrix Resurrections (Lena Wachovski, 2021), is tried to be examined with the guidance of Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytical psychology. The film, which opens up many fields of inquiry with its approach to reality, is this time handled with an approach from the field of inner reality. For this reason, this study tries to look at the elements of the film, which can be associated with popular culture and the culture industry, from the field of the unconscious. For this purpose, Jung's approach based on myths, dreams and ancient beliefs that he examined in order to understand the unconscious of man is used.

Fear, loss and disconnection: the emotional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic upon staff working in mental health services and how the organization can help – a psychoanalytic perspective

ABSTRACT This paper describes the work of a psychoanalyst working within NHS mental health services in the UK . The central contribution of a psychoanalytic approach within psychiatric care in offering a committed attempt towards understanding the patients’ presentation, rather than treatment primarily aimed at symptom control, is described. Beyond this, the specific contribution of psychoanalytic ideas in establishing a containing framework for staff, and how this strengthens the capacity of the organisation as a whole to contain anxiety and to metabolize complex projective processes is outlined. Examples are given with clinical illustrations of activities which enhance this capacity in ordinary times. The author then turns to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic upon staff and patients, describing how fear, threat and experiences of multiple losses have permeated all areas of our lives and activated primitive defences. The pandemic starkly revealed profoundly disturbing questions about our assumptions and habits, adding to the intensity and multi-layered quality of the anxieties evoked . Urgent attention has been drawn to our deeply problematic relationship with the natural world, our own habitat, and indefensible social inequities have been crudely exposed. Staff have been caught between their own fear, the need to contain increased disturbance in their patients, already struggling with fragmented and disordered states of mind, and pressures from an organisation under intense strain. The capacity of mental health staff to act as containers for their patient’s distress has been profoundly challenged and compromised. This paper outlines how the pandemic has highlighted the crucial role of the organisation as a container for anxiety and in supporting staff to do their work in mental health care. In order to strengthen this capacity during the crisis, the author describes how ideas derived from psychoanalytic principles were developed into guidance for NHS Mental Health Trusts during the early days of the pandemic . This guidance was adopted nationally by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is summarised in this paper.

Drawings and self-portraits: a qualitative study on how children with hearing loss describe themselves and the communication with others

The purpose of this paper is to present a qualitative case study of how five children aged 6:04–9:10 years with bilateral sensorineural mild to moderate hearing loss describe their thoughts about themselves and their communication with others. The children have age-appropriate language skills. When studying children with hearing loss, there is often a focus on the linguistic, social, and emotional consequences, but we need an understanding of the children’s thoughts about having hearing loss and the importance of hearing. The study consists of interviews and drawings, where the children draw a self-portrait and draw themselves when they are communicating with another person. Drawings and interviews are presented in case studies and analysed together with a meaning-making perspective and a psychoanalytic perspective. In the study, many of the children find it difficult to hear in noisy environments (e.g. school) but at the same time have friends with whom they play. When it is difficult to hear, they tell a teacher, take off their hearing aids, or disappear into their own inner universe. There seems to be a change in the children’s unconscious thoughts and feelings linked to the ears and hearing when they draw themselves communicating with another person. Several of the children do not draw their ears on the second drawing (talking to another person) even though some of them draw them in the self-portraits. The children’s thoughts and feelings about hearing and their hearing loss is presented and discussed.

Making the Best in a Bad Job: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Communication with Children and Adolescents with Severe Physical Conditions

Ill children/adolescents who suffer from severe organic diseases have to cope with their inner experiences, therapies, and the global burden of the disease. Although sometimes depression, anger, and death anxiety are openly encountered in medical settings, other times they can be partially hidden by a reactive and defensive path. In these scenarios, psychoanalysis is challenged to contribute the best comprehension of the intimate communication, maybe hidden, and the needs of the ill patients to express themselves. The best way a child can talk about himself is through spontaneous creativity. The adult’s task is to facilitate the creation of an empty space and to recognize the child’s mode of communication. There may be intense emotional reactions that the adult has to tolerate to not move the patient towards an over-adaptation. These over-adaptations entail the child being forced to feel good or have fun, thereby causing them to escape from their inner experience. The loss of the child’s reality forms an additional burden to the child. The most valid indicator of this attitude is the ability to not take counterphobic attitudes but to allow the depression to be shared in a contact space between the child’s true self and the perceived environment.

The Aleph and the Real: An Examination of Borges' Short Story through Slavoj Zizek's Psychoanalytic Theory

This research paper examines the concept of the Real, as proposed by Slavoj Zizek, through the study of The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges. This short story best represents this idea of the Real as intended by the Slovenian philosopher. Yet, Borges displays the idea of the Real through a mystical perspective, whereas Zizek tends lean on psychoanalytical perspectives. Once the short story is read through Zizek, we can perceive a new interpretation of the text. Otherwise, the transformative process after encountering the Aleph remains ambiguous and irrelevant. A similar idea of this transformation is also represented in many religious readings of the concept of God. This paper tends to study this idea of the Real through the psychoanalytic theory of Slavoj Zizek. His theory makes a long journey through Sigmund Freud and Jacque Lacan. The objective of this study is to have a new understanding of the ideas that undergo ambiguities and misunderstanding, including the idea of unseen powers that dominate our life.

On Redescribing the Indescribable: Trauma, Psychoanalysis and Psychedelic Therapy

The psychedelic state can be thought about as an interdependent intrapsychic, somatic, interpersonal and spiritual happening which encourages, perhaps both to the relief and dismay of those participating in the experience, the shocking and impressive emergence of one's unconscious desires and traumata's; a state which may be experienced as cathartic or healing, and as anxiety‐provoking and confusing. Often, in clinical trials investigating psychedelics in mental health conditions, these go hand in hand. Amid a renewed, at times hyperbolic, interest in psychedelics as a potential treatment for mental ill health, significant gaps of knowledge remain. Additional studies exploring the impact of the extra‐pharmacological factors and adjunct therapeutic models on treatment outcomes are needed. Drawing from psychoanalytic perspectives, this paper explores points of intersectionality between psychedelic therapy under investigation and psychoanalysis in the context of traumatic stress. To that end, the psychedelic state will be considered an attempt to make the unconscious conscious by immersing self in a bewildering waking‐dream to better tolerate reality; immersing self in a wilful state of vulnerability, to develop trust in one's agency and capacity to trust others; immersing self in an indescribable experience to learn how to redescribe, to self and to others the traumatic past.

New Taste in the Myth of Swan Queen in the Film Black Swan: The Inner Conflict of Nina Reflected in the Mirrors

This paper aims to share how the long-lived myth of the Swan Queen has been interpreted and reproduced by a group of artists from different disciplines including comparative literature, film, and media studies. Inspired by Tchaikovsky’s well-known Swan Lake ballet, Darren Aronofsky, who is a well-known American film director, creates the film entitled Black Swan in 2011 in close cooperation with the screenplay writers, Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John McLaughlin, who jointly published the script in 2009. Once the outstanding performance of the cast is added to this creation, the whole film extends itself to different interpretations and insights along with Tchaikovsky’s music. Among so many of them, this paper primarily focuses on how this myth of the Swan Queen shapes the inner conflict of a young girl who tries to become a passionate and womanly being from a psychoanalytic perspective that problematizes the issues of the “double”. Different from the previous productions which mostly intend to evoke horror, this double image can be followed throughout the film through the reflections in the mirrors, at any rate on any reflective surfaces and this enables us to see how fragile a human being is to differentiate the real from the surreal.

Trauma in Golding's Lord of Flies from Lacanian psychoanalysis Lens

Trauma is a very popular term in modernist literature. The term is used along with psycho-analytical perspective. It means that a person is exposed to a psychological harm due to emotional reaction to a terrible situation. The present paper endeavors to give an insight about character’s trauma in the aftermath of a Great World War II and how they react towards the world around them. Also, it clarifies how great war create a painful effect on the characters’ psyche. The current research is an attempt to scrutinize the concept of trauma in Golding’s Lord of Flies. The paper consists of three sections. The first is an introduction about the novella elaborating its main idea. The second section discusses the concept of trauma from non-traditional psychological perspective and its impact on man’s behavior. The third section is an analysis about various events and characters from psycho-analytical dimensions. Finally, the fourth section encapsulates the main points of the paper and recommendations of the further studies.

The Soviet colonialism: conscious and unconscious coding of meanings in the The Well novel by Abish Kekilbayev

Abish Kekilbayev’s story The Well was first published in 1978 in the Kazakh language book Belaya Aruana. The story is one of the most striking works of Kazakh literature of the Soviet period and it has been translated into many languages of the world. It has been the subject of research by literary and cultural critics in Kazakhstan, Russia, Germany, the United States, Bulgaria and other countries, and it is still of interest for analysis and interpretation. In 2018, a feature film based on the novel was produced in Kazakhstan. This article examines the work as an example of coding during the ideological censorship of the Soviets and, from a psychoanalytical perspective, as a derivative of birth trauma. During the Soviet colonial period, ethnic myths acquired particular significance for Central Asian writers; they became a natural extension of the traditional folk epic and a way out of the situation: by engaging the mythical consciousness, they could encode meanings, presenting them in the form of socialist realism.

What Does Queer IR Want? A Queer Psychoanalytic Critique

Abstract This article presents a sympathetic critique of the concept of “queer” operative in the subfield of Queer International Relations from a psychoanalytic perspective. I first reconstruct queer International Relations (IR) in relation to disciplinary IR and queer theory, and offer an appraisal of the current state of the field's division between LGBT+ theorists and queer theorists. I then consider Cynthia Weber’s recent work and suggest that the boundary between the two camps of queer IR is precarious in that both require and presuppose an opposition to some concept of the straight world. I suggest that, thus construed, the form of the queer/straight distinction approximates that of the mirror stage Jacques Lacan theorized in the 1930s. Read through Lacan, the notion of “queer” in queer IR can be shown to reduce the concept of desire to that of identity, which precludes understanding of the political import of queerness in respect of the LGBT+ group. Finally, I apply the Freudian–Lacanian reflection on narcissism, group formation, and desire to the debate on LGBT+ rights, and conclude that attending to the Lacanian concept of pure desire (via queer readings of Antigone) may be productive for queer IR's rethinking of the deadlocks it has run into in its brief history.

Understanding Closet Narcissism: The Challenges of Integrating Psychoanalytic Perspectives into Protocolized Treatments

As trauma-processing modalities such as CPT and EMDR have been refined and perfected in the twenty first century, little attention has been given to psychoanalysis as a viable treatment option for victims of trauma—perhaps due to the time constraints of social workers and therapists that are being implemented in different treatment settings outside of private practice. While there are many trainings available for CPT and EMDR (both of which are very effective in treating trauma, and are easily reimbursable from insurance companies), psychoanalytic approaches in trauma treatment are not often discussed in graduate programs and different clinical trainings for therapists, and have unfortunately become a secondary consideration in trauma treatment. The present case study offers a cautionary example of how overlooking psychodynamic perspectives can lead to incomplete trauma treatment outcomes, and is a call for therapists to creatively increase their utilization of psychoanalytic concepts within the limitations of non-private practice settings.

Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Women and Their Experience of Desire, Ambition and Leadership

Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Women and Their Experience of Desire, Ambition and Leadership