Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology Research Articles

Psychoanalytic ego psychology: A European perspective

The best way to reconstruct the history of psychoanalytic ideas is to begin from the study not of theories, but of the various authors and their contexts. Important contributions to the study of the ego in Europe had already come from Ferenczi and Fenichel, well before Hartmann founded Ego Psychology (EP), which became mainstream in North America. In Europe, before World War II, significant contributions to what here is called “psychoanalytic ego psychology” (Pep) (contrasted with Hartmann’s EP) came from Anna Freud, Paul Federn, and Gustav Bally. After World War II, contributions came from Alexander Mitscherlich, Paul Parin, and Johannes Cremerius in the German-speaking community, and from Joseph Sandler in the UK. If this is the case, we should then talk of “ego psychologies” in the same way as we talk of the various object relations theories. Pep – as it was described in the guiding principles formulated by Fenichel in the 1930s – keeps informing the clinical work of many psychoanalysts, even if they are not fully aware of it. For example, it represents the basic ingredient of the empirically verifiable “psychoanalytic therapy” formulated in detail by Helmut Thomä and Horst Kächele.

The origins of David Rapaport's 'Portrait of Moses' story

David Rapaport, one of the founders of psychoanalytic ego psychology, used a story about a portrait of Moses in three of his papers in the 1950s in order to illustrate his view that the self has the power to shape its own nature. The present article traces the origins and evolution of that story through Latin, Islamic and Jewish versions.

The Value of Integration: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Meets Ego Psychology in a Psychotherapy Group for Children

ABSTRACTPsychotherapy integration requires us to look beyond the confines of a particular theoretical or technical approach towards other perspectives. Integrative work with children, in particular, meets the socio-emotional needs of the child while simultaneously modeling behaviors and skills. This paper presents an explicitly integrative approach to child group psychotherapy: Relationships. Individuals. Skills. Engagement (RISE) Group. We begin with an in-depth discussion of the RISE group structure illustrated by clinical examples (the “what”) followed by a review of the theory and treatment modalities that inform the approach (the “why” and “how”). The RISE group is grounded in two theoretical perspectives (psychoanalytic principles and ego psychology) and draws upon clinical techniques from multiple treatment modalities (including cognitive behavior therapy, psychodynamic play therapy and dialectical behavior therapy). Combined, the merger of these perspectives results in a multilevel intervention that forges pathways to mastery and competence within the child. Finally, we discuss the value and limitations of integration as applied to group psychotherapy for children.

Ego Psychoanalytic Rorschach Interpretation

Abstract. This article concerns the utility of ego psychoanalytic perspectives in Rorschach interpretation. Psychoanalytic ego psychology focuses on how people cope with events in their lives and how effectively they can meet challenges to their sense of well-being. The way people deal with experienced distress constitutes their defensive style and determines to a large extent what kind of person they are. Adequate defenses against anxiety promote comfortable and productive adjustment, whereas ineffective defenses typically cause adjustment difficulties and susceptibility to psychological disorders. In Rorschach assessment, the nature and effectiveness of a person’s defensive style can often be identified with a sequence analysis that integrates the structural, thematic, and behavioral features in the protocol. In particular, the sequential quality of responses, especially preceding and following instances of cognitive slippage, can help identify causes of upsetting concerns, defensive efforts to alleviating these concerns, and the adequacy of these defensive efforts in restoring equanimity. This interpretive process is illustrated with attention to implications for differential diagnosis and treatment planning in the Rorschach protocol of a 20-year-old suicidal woman.

Mental Representation in The Thought of Sidney Blatt: Developmental Processes.

Mental representation was a central construct in Sidney Blatt's contributions to psychology and psychoanalysis. This brief review demonstrates that Blatt's understanding of representation was always informed by basic psychoanalytic concepts like the centrality of early caregiver-infant relationships and of unconscious mental processes. Although Blatt's earlier writings were informed by psychoanalytic ego psychology and Piagetian cognitive developmental psychology, they focused nonetheless on how an individual uses bodily and relational experiences to construct an object world; they also consistently presented object representations as having significant unconscious dimensions. From the mid-1980s onward, Blatt's contributions, in dialogue with his many students, moved in an even more experiential/relational direction and manifested the influence of attachment theory, parent-infant interaction research, and intersubjectivity theory. They also incorporated contemporary cognitive psychology, with its emphasis on implicit or procedural, rather than explicit, dimensions as a means of accounting for aspects of object representations that are not in conscious awareness. Throughout his career, however, Blatt regarded mental representation as the construct that mediates between the child's earliest bodily and relational experiences and the mature adult's symbolic, most emotionally profound capacities.

Commitment and Compassion in Psychoanalysis: Selected Papers of Edward M. Weinshel

Commitment and Compassion in Psychoanalysis: Selected Papers of Edward M. Weinshel

Psychoanalysis at the Millennium: A Personal Odyssey

A review of my development from psychology intern and research assistant to the psychoanalytic tester and theoretician David Rapaport at the Menninger Clinic in the 1940s, through my career psychological testing and my psychoanalytic training in the Western New England Institute and my working successively at the Austen Riggs Center, Yale Department of Psychiatry, Yale Student Mental Health Center, Cornell Department of Psychiatry, and eventually private practice in New York City. During this period, I rose to the academic rank of Professor and the analytic position of Training Analyst. I have written extensively: first on testing, then more or less in turn on psychoanalytic ego psychology, action language for psychoanalysis, feminist issues, narrative in psychoanalysis, and the contemporary Kleinians of London. This memoir traces the intellectual continuity that characterizes these writings and my continuing development as a psychoanalyst—my first ambition and great love.

You Can Get Here From There

This paper is a review of my development from psychology intern and research assistant to the psychoanalytic tester and theoretician David Rapaport at the Menninger Clinic in the 1940s, through my career in psychological testing, my psychoanalytic training in the Western New England Institute, and my working successively at the Austen Riggs Center, Yale Department of Psychiatry, Yale Student Mental Health Center, Cornell Department of Psychiatry, and eventually private practice in New York City. During this period, I rose to the academic rank of Professor and the analytic position of Training Analyst. I have written extensively: first on testing, then more or less in turn on psychoanalytic ego psychology, action language for psychoanalysis, feminist issues, narrative in psychoanalysis, and the contemporary Kleinians of London. This memoir traces the intellectual continuity that characterizes these writings and my continuing development as a psycho-analyst—my first ambition and great love.

Psychoanalysis and Projective Testing: A Review of The Interpretation of Psychological Tests

This article is a review and reassessment of Allison, Blatt, and Zimet's (1968) The Interpretation of Psychological Tests. The book, a distillation of David Rapaport's approach to psychological assessment, is organized around 2 main foci: a discussion from the perspective of psychoanalytic ego psychology of each of the 3 major instruments (i.e., Wechsler intelligence scale, Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test) in Rapaport's testing battery and a demonstration of how a clinician might interpret and integrate the results of each of these instruments with regard to a single case. I discuss the significance of this book, and of Rapaport's psychoanalytic approach to psychological evaluation, for projective assessment today. In addition, I present information regarding the intellectual backgrounds of Allison, Blatt, and Zimet and explain how each of them was influenced by Roy Schafer, who in the 1950s brought Rapaport's ideas about psychoanalytic theory and psychological testing to Yale University.

The matter of style: Manifestations of personality in cognition, learning, and teaching

The historical roots of cognitive styles are traced in differential psychology, psychoanalytic ego psychology, Gestalt, and cognitive-developmental psychology to illuminate the varied theoretical issues that energize (and fragment) style research. Optimal measurement of cognitive styles as information-processing regularities and as intraindividual contrasts of abilities or other attributes is discussed in terms of both typical performance and contrasted performance on measures of opposing ends of bipolar style dimensions, with special emphasis on the contrasted measurement of field independence versus field dependence. The role of styles as both performance variables and competence variables in learning and teaching is examined, as are various critiques of style research that appear to be excessively polarized in either supporting or undercutting styles as meaningful constructs. This polarization appears to reflect different stances not just with respect to scientific evidence but also with respect to ideology. Concluding remarks broach the issue of how styles are organized, not just within an information-processing framework but within the structure of personality.

THE MATTER OF STYLE: MANIFESTATIONS OF PERSONALITY IN COGNITION, LEARNING, AND TEACHING

ABSTRACTThe historical roots of cognitive styles are traced in differential psychology, psychoanalytic ego psychology, gestalt and cognitive‐developmental psychology to illuminate the varied theoretical issues that energize (and fragment) style research. Optimal measurement of cognitive styles as information‐processing regularities and as intraindividual contrasts of abilities or other attributes is discussed in terms of both typical performance and contrasted performance on measures of opposing ends of bipolar style dimensions, with special emphasis on the contrasted measurement of field independence versus field dependence. The role of styles as both performance variables and competence variables in learning and teaching is examined, as are various critiques of style research that appear to be excessively polarized in either supporting or undercutting styles as meaningful constructs. This polarization appears to reflect different stances not just with respect to scientific evidence but with respect to ideology. Concluding remarks broach the issue of how styles are organized, not just within an information‐processing framework but within the structure of personality.

A psychoanalytic view of hypnosis.

Abstract Since Freud psychoanalytic hypnosis theory has evolved along with advances in psychoanalysis, e.g., psychoanalytic ego psychology. This paper traces the contributions of Freud (1953 & 1955), Ferenczi, (1950), Schilder (1956), Kubie and Margolin (1944), Gill and Brenman (1959), and Fromm (1977) toward a psychoanalytic theory of hypnosis from the early libido theory to the ego-analytic point of view.

A Framework for Self-Supervision in Social Work Practice

Self-supervision within the interview enables the worker to focus on the client's immediate psychosocial situation and utilize client motivation to the fullest. A conceptual framework based on principles of psychoanalytic ego psychology and three case examples are presented to aid in this process.

The Princely and the Contracted Wordsworth: A Study of Wordsworth's Personality in Terms of Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology

The Princely and the Contracted Wordsworth: A Study of Wordsworth's Personality in Terms of Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology

Altered states of consciousness and hxpnosis: A discussion

Abstract The author explains why it is important at this juncture in time to acquaint researchers and clinicians in the field of hypnosis with the current serious research in altered states of consciousness, and vice versa. In a 1975 SCEH symposium, the author brought together both well-established and young researchers coming from orientations as widely differing as neurophysiology, cognitive theory, and psychoanalytic ego psychology. This discussion summarizes, critically evaluates, and attempts to integrate with each other the findings of meditative researchers, Davidson and Goleman, and Daniel Brown; the altered states of consciousness model-maker, Roland Fischer; the hypnotherapist, Sacerdote; and the generalist in altered states of consciousness and hypnosis, Krippner. A short summary of the author's own new ego-psychological theory of hypnosis and 12 other altered states of consciousness is also presented.

Genetic Epistemology and Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology: Clinical Support for the Study of Response to Literature

Genetic Epistemology and Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology: Clinical Support for the Study of Response to Literature

Creativity and Psychopathology: a Theoretical Model

The view advanced here differs from traditional psychoanalytic notions. Distinctions are drawn between creativity and psychopathology. Different capacities and processes are postulated for each by virtue of a three-factor model which considers: (1) levels of primary and secondary process thinking, (2) the role of the preconscious, and (3) the nature of the synthetic ego operations. Furthermore, this view diverges from the traditional conceptions of primary and secondary processes which are based upon a hydraulic model wherein a reciprocal relationship between the two processes has been postulated. The present model is more consistent with the views advanced in psychoanalytic ego psychology. Emphasis is placed here not only on the significance of the role of the preconscious and the active posture of the ego during the creative process, but more specifically upon the crucial role of synthetic ego operations, that is, the integrating and organizing capacity itself. An attempt is made to draw attention to the fact that the creative process involves a synthesis of both developmentally primitive and developmentally advanced levels of psychological functioning throughout the entire process, and that the latter phases of the creative process are not merely equivalent to conventional work.

RESEARCH IN CHILD PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL, PSYCHOLOGY

ABSTRACTSince the many broader developmental propositions common to the theories of Piaget, Werner, and psychoanalytic ego psychology are not available in the usual research report, the present paper starts by defining a number of them to provide an outline of the conceptual framework which these three developmental theories share. This framework delineates the limits of the literature survey which follows. Four main lines of investigation are then reviewed, each dealing with questions and hypotheses derived from one or more of the propositions and each suggested by an examination of the literature. These are: studies dealing with innately given behavioral and structural organs and modes of functioning; differentiation‐integration and levels of organization; multiple modes and stages of development; and the adaptive process. Following this literature review, a concluding section considers some implications of the biodevelopmental research reported to date for the understanding of child psychopathology.

Marriage and Personal Development.

Marriage and Personal Developmenthas been written in order to explore the psychology of marriage and to examine how counseling procedures can be designed to release the potential for growth and development within the marital situation. It describes in detail psychoanalytic ego psychology as it relates to personality development of the two persons involved in a marital relationship. The discussions on phases of development, sex, aggression, symbiosis, separation-individuation, object relations, internalization, anxiety, defenses, and ego psychology are generally quite good. They are sprinkled with appropriate anecdotal case examples. The discussions on psychoanalytic psychology are within the accepted framework. There are no innovations. As a matter of fact, the book could be considered as a reference book for descriptions of psychoanalytic ego psychology concepts. In that sense the book could be more appropriately calledPsychoanalytic Concepts of Personality Development as Related to Marriage.The Drs. Blanck treat the marital relationship as

Application of verbal behavior analysis to the study of psychological defense mechanisms. V. Speech pattern associated with overeating.

THIS paper is one of a series reporting upon studies designed to relate speech characteristics to clinically relevant behavior. In 1963 we published a method of verbal behavior analysis based upon psychoanalytic ego psychology and learning theory.1Relying primarily upon cues derived from psychoanalytic and psychodiagnostic practice, we isolated a number of speech variables which could be objectively scored with adequate interjudge reliability; appeared to be related to psychological defensive or adjustive operations; were used to significantly different degrees by different individuals; and were, wherever possible, dependent upon formal characteristics of speech. In recent published reports we demonstrated that speech samples of groups of impulsive, delusional, and depressed psychiatric inpatients differed significantly from that of normal subjects along a number of scorable dimensions.2-4Our findings were consistent with patterns of psychological defense mechanisms attributed to those categories of