Psychoanalytic Practice Research Articles

De quoi LGBTQI++ est-il le nom ? Une psychanalyse en mutation

ObjectivesThe aim of this article is to show how the hyperonymous term “homosexual” invented in 1864 has covered up and erased a series of terms designating sexual practices between men and women. It aims to open a reflection on the epistemology of psychoanalytical practice in a context of LGBTQI++ visibility. In what way are certain dogmas of psychoanalysis questioned, or even seem, for some, threatened? One of the epistemological and clinical ruptures introduced by Freudian theory in a psychiatric context of categorization of sexuality and nosography of its “deviances” consists in the depathologization of the human sexual fact in all its dimensions, and Freud kept until the last texts the idea of a polymorphy of infantile sexuality. To what extent do these reflections on the identities of sex and gender allow psychoanalysis to reinvent what has made and still makes its subversive edge? MethodThe reading of archives, queer theory and gender studies texts, articulated with psychoanalytic texts concerning questions of sexuality, shows how the acronym LGBTQI++ is the emergence of a new dissemination. ResultsThis dissemination defeats universalizing categories, politicizes bodies and pleasures. A certain psychoanalytical practice would be reinvented here, or at least displaced. DiscussionSome call for a “mutation” of psychoanalysis in the face of what defeats categories and invents a language. LGBTQI++ would be the return of the epistemological repression of psychoanalysis. ConclusionWould LGBTQI++ be the acronym for the mutation of psychoanalytic practice? A dialogue between psychoanalytic theory and practice and the so-called sexual minorities is reinforced by the de-categorization of LGBTQI++. It is therefore a matter of “reinterrogating Eros” at the heart of analytical theory and practice, of accepting the re-readings of analytical theory and criticism – coming from gender studies, as well as from LGBTQI++ culture – of its vocabulary.

The Place of the Visual in Psychoanalytic Practice: Image in the Countertransference, by Faye Carey, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2018, 133 pp.

The Place of the Visual in Psychoanalytic Practice: Image in the Countertransference, by Faye Carey, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2018, 133 pp.

Enactment: A necessary conceptual review

ABSTRACT Enactment as a psychoanalytic concept was coined by Jacobs in 1986. Since then, it has developed within the psychoanalytic community as a concept. Originally, enactment described an aspect of countertransference expressed through subtle actions within the analytic process, as distinct from noisier performances that fall within the spectrum of “acting out”. Nowadays, the concept of enactment poses some difficulties that should not be ignored. As a theoretical concept, enactment has a complex epistemological position, and as a clinical concept it sheds light on contemporary psychoanalytic practices. This paper explores the results from an empirical and conceptual research work, focusing on the history, translations and usages of the term “enactment”, and its comparison with related terms. It will also consider the epistemological perspective regarding the current status of enactment as a scientific concept and its relationship with the psychoanalytic theoretical field.

Boundaries of reasoning in cases: The visual psychoanalysis of René Spitz

This article argues that the foundational separation between psychoanalysis and experimental psychology was challenged in important ways by psychoanalytic infant researchers. Through a close examination of American psychoanalyst René Spitz (1887–1974), it extends John Forrester’s conception of reasoning in cases outside classic psychoanalytic practices. Specifically, the article interrogates the foundations of reasoning in cases—the individual, language, and the doctor–patient relationship—to show how these are reimagined in relation to the structures of American developmental psychology. The article argues that the staunch separation of experimental psychology and psychoanalysis, reiterated by philosophers and historians of psychology, is flimsy at best—and, conversely, that the maintenance of these boundaries enabled the production of a cinematic case study. Spitz created films that used little language and took place outside the consulting room with institutionalized infants. Yet key aspects of the psychoanalytic case, as put forth by John Forrester, were depicted visually. These visual displays of transference, failure, and interpersonal emotions highlight the foundations of what Forrester means by reasoning in cases. The article concludes that Spitz failed at creating classic psychoanalytic evidence, but in so doing stretched the epistemology of the case.

정신증에 대한 라캉학파의 정신분석 실천 : 정신증 주체를 위한 연안 지대를 만드는 길

본 연구는 우리 사회의 정신증에 대한 라캉학파의 정신분석 실천으로서 정신증 주체를 위한 연안 지대를 만드는 길에 대한 논의이다. 정신분석에서 정신증은 자아와 현실 사이의 단절 이후, 이드의 욕망에 일치하는 새로운 현실을 재구성하는 주체이다. 라캉은 아버지의 이름의 폐제를 근본 메커니즘으로 한 실존적 구조로 정신증을 설명한다. 그는『에크리』에서 L 도식, R 도식, I 도식을 통해 정신증의 메커니즘을 구명한다. L 도식은 주체의 조건이 대타자에서 전개되는 것에 달려 있음을 설명한다. R 도식은 나르시시즘적 환영(a-a´)이 상상계와 상징계의 구획을 개념적으로 가시화하는데 그 사이에서 발생하는 여러 상상적 타자에 기초한 자아의 동일시 단계들이 정신증의 현실의 장인 실재를 구축함을 보여준다. I 도식은 아버지의 이름의 폐제에 따른 상징계의 구멍 주위에서 주체의 재구성이 발생하여 정신증 구조가 혼란이 아닌 우아한 해결을 표상함을 보여준다. 정신증에서 두 기초 현상은 아버지의 이름(고정점)의 효과의 결함을 증언하는데, 환각이 기표와 기의의 의미화의 분절이라면, 망상은 새로운 의미의 생산이다. 조현병은 환각을, 편집증은 망상을 주요 현상으로 하여 정신증자는 단어를 사물과 동일시(주이상스의 침입), 통제되지 않는 충동들, 여성화, 질문 부재를 나타낸다. 정신증 주체를 위한 분석 실천은 삶을 지속할 수 있는 의미의 세계를 구축하는 상상계(또는 실재)의 보충으로 가능하다. 따라서 유사자로서의 분석가는 상상적·실재적 전이를 통해 정신증 주체의 매듭의 복원 작업을 하는 분석 공간과 그 의미로서의 연안 지대를 만들어야 한다.

Impossible Ethics.

The proper practice of psychoanalysis repudiates a rule-based code of ethical conduct. A conflict exists, however, between Freud's rejection of the Biblical commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself and his development of psychoanalytic techniques that demand something very much of this ilk. Other essential conflicts in analytic practice include the impossibility of removing the analyst's desire from the analytic relationship, the unruly nature of unconscious processes in both analyst and analysand, and the après-coup nature of ethical recognition. A discourse of ethics is recommended in which analysts are called on to consider the ethical demands of each clinical moment. Ethical demands on the analysand, as well as the analyst, bring to light the way in which analysis rests on the foundational ethical situation into which humankind is born.

Developments on the concept of the super-ego in Bion’s work

SUMMARY In Bion’s work, we find both continuity with and a breakthrough from the ideas developed by Freud and Melanie Klein on the concept of superego. After relying on Klein’s views, Bion presented two fresh perspectives on this topic. In the first, in his theory of thinking we find a shift from an instinctive perspective to a psychological approach to morality. In the second we find conjectures (both imaginative and rational) about a primitive conscience, a form of morality prior to the mental functioning described as the superego by Freud and even the archaic superego described by Klein. This primordial psychic condition refers to a hazy dimension in which phylogenesis merges with fetal experiences. As described by Bion, the manifestations of this primitive conscience emerge as states of intense terror and guilt underneath a symbolic mind. They inhibit the development of the mind, are felt as harsh and authoritarian, always present as prohibitive, can potentially drive the individual to suicide, and are frequently found in the psychoanalytic practice.

The Elusiveness of “The Feminine” in The Male Analyst: Living in Yet Not Being of The Binary

The author explores the feminine/masculine binary and what is meant by being “in” this binary versus “of” it. He considers Freud’s views on female “otherness” in light of today’s changing theories and practices regarding sexuality and gender. Newer ideas are seen to supplement rather than replace traditional ones; it is noted that binary dichotomies remain present in each individual’s psyche but can yield to more complex and nuanced ways of thinking about gender differences. Concepts such as primary femininity, core gender identity, binary logic, male primordial vulnerability, and gender fluidity are discussed, along with their implications for psychoanalytic thinking and practice. In particular, the male analyst’s psychic bisexuality or bigenderality – including the “feminine” interior within every male born of a woman – is examined as it relates to his clinical functioning and efficacy. Finally, a brief clinical vignette is presented to illustrate some of these points.

Discussion of Dr. Gita Zarnegar’s and Dr. Gabriel Trop’s Panel Presentations: A Dynamic View of Selfhood, Affect and Political Context, 2019 IAPSP Conference

ABSTRACT This article discusses two papers presented at a panel at the 2019 IAPSP conference, “A Dynamic View of Selfhood, Affect and Political Context,” one by Dr. Gita Zarnegar and one by Dr. Gabriel Trop. The papers address the application of dynamic systems theory to political context in psychoanalytic treatment. Dr. Phillip Cushman’s hermeneutic approach to the political in psychoanalytic theory and practice is also discussed. His emphasis describes how the stance of the psychoanalyst can have profound implications for the emergence of political thematizing in the therapeutic setting. Dr. Zarnegar uses her own personal history as an immigrant to the United States to introduce two concepts, phantom selfhood and phantomization. Phantom selfhood is an adaptive process where old connections emerge in the presence of integrating the positive novelty of a new culture. Phantomization describes a maladaptive pattern of persistent longing for remnants of the lost culture. Dr. G. Trop describes the ethos and values held by a therapist from a non-linear dynamic systems vantage point, which are changeability, disruption, experimentation, particularization and exposure. Both authors caution about the potential dangers of the inherent asymmetry of the psychoanalytic situation in influencing and advancing specific political vantage points in the therapeutic setting. This discussion will compare and contrast some elements of their perspectives with those of Dr. Cushman’s.

Successful Treatment of Psychosis by Means of Supervised Analysis

The authors present some aspects of their experiences in the treatment of two psychotic patients. The first case suffered from hallucinatory mystical delusions and the second from delusional hypochondria and erythrophobia. Since these cases were followed through regular supervision during their novice analysts’ psychoanalytic training, the usefulness of this kind of treatment for the development of current psychoanalytic practice is emphasized.

Trans Realism, Psychoanalytic Practice, and the Rhetoric of Technique

I argue that, in George Eliot’s early, definitive statement of realism in the seventeenth chapter of Adam Bede, realism will only have been accomplished when readers have learned not merely to respect, but to desire, the dysphorically sexed bodies of others. In this sense, I argue, realism shares a central tenet with two of the more controversial and, frankly, neglected dimensions of Freudian thinking—which Sigmund Freud himself took to be indipensable components in the treatment of neurotics—castration complex and penis envy. Though post-Freudian analysts have frequently found these dimensions of libidinal embodiment distasteful, to trans people they are central and in certain respects definitive aspects of social participation. Hence, while trans studies tends to eschew psychoanalysis altogether, and the only psychoanalysts to write about trans people tend to be Lacanians for whom Freud’s therapeutic ambitions were frequently mystified, reappraising the realist dimension of psychoanalytic practice can reveals the trans logic at the core of both Freud’s project and Eliot’s.

Learning from Experience

In recent years, a growing number of artists and performers have become involved with a group psychoanalytic practice called the Tavistock method. British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion (1897-1979) initiated this methodology, which centres on the study of the ‘here-and-now’ within group life. Exploring the unconscious dynamics within groups, Bion’s approach evolved into a model known as a group relations conference, an experiential meeting in which members examine the group dynamics that form within the conference itself. Within the last fifteen years, various artists have participated in group relations, attending conferences as members and staff as well as introducing Tavistock within art departments and cultural institutions. Olive Mckeon’s article, ‘Learning from experience: Disciplinary hybridity between group psychoanalysis and performance’, investigates the liminal, hybrid space between Tavistock and performance. Expanding approaches to interdisciplinary work in the arts, Mckeon demonstrates that the encounter between group relations and creative practice contains the possibilities of fruitful, cross-disciplinary learning as well as the dangers of appropriating and aestheticizing another field. The article focuses on a case study of an artistic project that hybridizes with group relations: a work by artist Leigh Ledare titled The Task (2017). Ledare’s project stages a Tavistock conference as a work of art, a piece that is simultaneously an aesthetic object and a group relations conference. As an example of disciplinary hybridity, Ledare’s project reveals the difficulties of working at the boundary and intersection between two fields. The interpretative questions that group relations asks — how is affect distributed within a group? how is authority established? — offer an instructive lens to look at the dynamics of cross-disciplinary compositional methods. This article provides insight into two dimensions of hybridity: hybridity between disciplines and practices that hybridize experience and reflection.

Binded by the White: A Discussion of “Fanon’s Vision of Embodied Racism for Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice”

Inspired by Steven Knoblauch’s paper, Fanon’s Vision of Embodied Racism for Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice (this issue), I urge White analysts to (individually and collectively) pursue acts of self-examination that risk destabilizing routines and convictions that bind our practices to Whiteness. Among terms to be interrogated, mutual recognition, diversity, integration, vitalization, and resilience are queried for the violence that is evacuated into the phantomatic register in support of a White ongoing being.

Fanon’s Vision of Embodied Racism for Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice

This text is built around a clinical encounter illustrative of the challenge/struggle for recognizing and working in terms of race. The author employs perspectives and terms emerging from a vision developed by Frantz Fanon to represent issues of race for psychoanalytic practice that have begun to be recognized and discussed recently. These issues open up unprecedented challenges for theory and practice, particularly as they reveal the myopia of the terms and discourse with which we make meaning and practice clinically. The author examines the experience of his own need to perform in the role of rescuer, in tension with surrendering to the limits of an attempt at recognition within the discursive terms of a racist social order. In particular, the author points to the limitations of verbal re-presentational categories/models in currently accepted psychoanalytic discourse as well as in the capacities of both analyst and patient to re-present complex, emotionally difficult to bear, racialized experience. The author demonstrates the clinical value of expanding analytic attention to embodied registrations as one way of surrendering to this myopia of theory, and the effects of amnesia and/or erasure that racist discourse can have on re-presentations of traumatic histories for both patient and analyst.

Reading Winnicott: return to the concept of regression to dependence

ABSTRACT Drawing on Winnicott’s renowned concept of regression to dependence, the author elaborates on both the creative potential and limitations of this notion, examining some theoretical and clinical contributions from his own psychoanalytic practice with neurotic and psychotic children. First, the author questions and discusses the theoretical difficulties that arise in the conception of regression to dependence. In particular, he analyses the matter of psychic temporality and passivity. Second, the author considers how analysts can receive and foster the regression to dependence, and examines the use of limited physical contact in the treatment of severely disturbed children.

Walking the middle ground between hermeneutics and science: A research proposal on psychoanalytic process

ABSTRACT In 100 years of clinical research and 40 years of empirical research, the concept of psychoanalytic process continues to elude a consensual definition, probably because the problem and methodology must be approached in a different way. This article outlines the empirical implications of the epistemological model exposed in a previous article, by proposing a scientific, innovative, and clinically sensitive research programme for the study of psychoanalytic process. This proposal is an attempt at developing psychotherapy research that is founded on psychoanalytic hypotheses derived from a two-person psychology. The research programme focuses on the interactional nature of the analytical work, and on the relationship between the implicit (unconscious) and the explicit (conscious) levels of the analytic endeavour. The authors propose that this research programme be articulated around three methodological approaches: (1) the use of systematic case studies; (2) the adoption of the events paradigm for accessing the salient phenomena of the psychoanalytic process; and (3) a micro-analytic approach to the specific phenomena occurring within relevant sequences of interaction. These ideas are illustrated with a description of the micro-analysis of a clinical case. This article is intended to contribute to a constructive dialogue between psychoanalytic practice and psychotherapy research.

The current sociosanitary coronavirus crisis: remote psychoanalysis by Skype or telephone

ABSTRACT We propose a reflection on the problems posed to psychoanalytic practice by the current socio-sanitary crisis. If, in the face of the Coronavirus, safety imperatives and cautionary urgencies prevail over clinical and psychoanalytic considerations, nevertheless we can keep alive our connection to our patients. Delphine Miermont-Schilton puts forward some theoretical-clinical propositions, which François Richard prolongs with some additional hypotheses.

CLINIC AND PSYCHOANALYTIC PRACTICE WITH PUBESCENTS AND ADOLESCENTS

This is the last article written during the authaor's lifetime. In this article the author is discussing the problems of clinic and psychoanalytic practice.

El cuerpo en la práctica psicoanalítica

¿En qué medida el cuerpo hace su aparición en la práctica del psicoanálisis? De las infinitas maneras en que lo hace, elegimos interrogar el problema del cuerpo a partir de dos situaciones: una de ellas, devenida de la situación analítica y la otra, a partir de un cuento de Cortázar. El sesgo decidido es la relación con la Medicina y la Ciencia y la inclusión del cuerpo en la política, a través de la biopolítica. En los intersticios: la angustia, alojada en la relación del sujeto con su cuerpo y la posibilidad de responder a la demanda de análisis con una práctica de discurso.

The pictures you paint in the stories you tell, a response

ABSTRACT This paper is a phenomenological and psychoanalytical response to a set of papers. As a psychoanalyst, philosopher, and intellectual historian, I am interested in ‘intention’ in the phenomenological sense, that is, how someone both reaches out to and shapes their world. How does our thinking in this phenomenological way affect our doing of empirical research? How does it affect our psychoanalytical practice? I argue for approaching this kind of critique heterotopically, with an emphasis on other worlds and the relation of these to subjectivity and the unconscious.