Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Research Articles

Envious gazes and evil eye beads: A self-psychological perspective on the evil eye

ABSTRACT The evil eye, the harmful effects of the envious gaze, is a common superstitious belief in many societies around the world, including Turkey. Since ancient times, people have developed a wide variety of practices and rituals to ward off the evil eye. It is generally believed that the evil eye is motivated by one of the most challenging emotions, envy. The discussion of envy has a long history in psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, psychoanalytic self-psychology has neglected envy and confined it to the concept of fragmentation products. This paper aims to contribute a self-psychological understanding of an envy-related cultural concept, the evil eye. The evil eye-related phenomena in Turkey, such as the harmful potential of gazes, the use of talismans and amulets for protection, and the fear of praising and exhibition, are discussed from a self-psychological perspective. Several short clinical vignettes delineating the evil eye in clinical practice are presented.

Selfobject Psychology for a Troubled World

ABSTRACT The role of self-psychology in establishing a transformational humanity and even in saving the continued existence of our world—is a very modest one, yet, at the same time, a uniquely crucial opportunity. We, as a community committed to psychoanalytic self-psychology, are being required to respond to the summons of a serving leadership. The task ahead of us all is not less than that of creating a supra-contextual web of empathy that will embrace the personal and the general, the similar and the different, the multiplicity and the oneness. Only such an ethical matrix of universalism will constitute a total solidarity. Such an immeasurable task calls upon us to uplift the Kohutian legacy to its final destination, to the shores of selfobject psychology. This proposal aims at refining self-psychology into a psychology of transformation, defining the humane narcissistic journey from self-cherishing attitude to other-cherishing attitude, and, perhaps even beyond, to a stance of all-embracing ethical commitment to the realization of awakened awareness. Selfobject psychology thus opens up for psychoanalysis a spiritual horizon that will buttress the unceasing quest for the tremendous goal of withstanding our troubled times and of securing a future for humankind and its cosmic habitat.

Investigation of Academic Procrastination Problems from the Perspective of Psychoanalytic Self-Psychology: A Case Study

Investigation of Academic Procrastination Problems from the Perspective of Psychoanalytic Self-Psychology: A Case Study

Creative restorations: Holding a mirror to the self in brief dynamic therapy

The author outlines the conceptual framework that underpins psychoanalytic self-psychology, describing the function of the selfobject in meeting the need of the child and later the adult for mirroring, idealisation and essential alikeness, and thereby sustaining the coherence of the self within a structure that takes the form of a tension arc. Drawing from more recent elaborations of the need for optimal responsiveness by the selfobject in mirroring the expansiveness of the self, the author proceeds to compare this conceptual framework with that of Winnicott and Wright, who posited the role of mirroring in the development and realisation of the self. The contribution of mirroring to the facilitation of creativity as well as the relationship between the arts and the realisation of the self are explored in the particular context of the counselling of students in the field of the performing arts. The implications of these concepts are further explored in relation to short-term counselling and this is illustrated with a case example.

A Buddhist contribution to the psychoanalytic psychology of self

The author attempts to integrate the concepts of self used in psychoanalytic theory with the understanding of the nature of self as explained within the Buddhist meditative tradition. He divides different concepts of self in psychoanalytic theory into three major levels of consciousness and abstraction: self as experience, representational self and self as system. The representational level is defined as consisting of unconscious organizing structures of interaction: the system level is a hierarchically higher organization of representations, while the experiential level consists of the moment‐to‐moment flow of consciousness. He argues that for the sake of theoretical clarity these levels should be differentiated in discussions of self. He then describes the Buddhist psychology of self and tries to show how this perspective can enrich psychoanalytic understanding of the experiential self and of narcissism, which in Buddhist language would be described as clinging to (seeking or avoiding) images of self that arise in the mind. Last, he describes a model of therapeutic development using different levels of self and the interrelationship between them, showing how psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Buddhist insight meditation emphasize different levels of self using complementary rather than mutually exclusive methods.

A Buddhist contribution to the psychoanalytic psychology of self.

The author attempts to integrate the concepts of self used in psychoanalytic theory with the understanding of the nature of self as explained within the Buddhist meditative tradition. He divides different concepts of self in psychoanalytic theory into three major levels of consciousness and abstraction: self as experience, representational self and self as system. The representational level is defined as consisting of unconscious organizing structures of interaction: the system level is a hierarchically higher organization of representations, while the experiential level consists of the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. He argues that for the sake of theoretical clarity these levels should be differentiated in discussions of self. He then describes the Buddhist psychology of self and tries to show how this perspective can enrich psychoanalytic understanding of the experiential self and of narcissism, which in Buddhist language would be described as clinging to (seeking or avoiding) images of self that arise in the mind. Last, he describes a model of therapeutic development using different levels of self and the interrelationship between them, showing how psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Buddhist insight meditation emphasize different levels of self using complementary rather than mutually exclusive methods.

Dreaming and Listening: A Final Journey

The following paper will examine the meaning of dreams and dream analysis from a classical psychoanalytic perspective, self-psychology, dream research, and current relational theory. Three consecutive dreams will be explored in the context of the client's terminal AIDS diagnosis and his eventual death. The dreams' latent meaning, as understood by this writer, and their manifest content as reported by the client will be contextualized within the therapeutic relationship and this client's struggle with the process of death and dying.

The Unfolding of the Narrative in the Psychotherapy of a Traumatized Preadolescent Child

This paper examines various psychoanalytic conceptions of trauma, including ideas associated with classical psychoanalytic theory (Freud), object-relations theory (Khan), self-psychology (Kohut and Tolpin) and continuous construction theory (Zeanah et al.). Clinical issues germane to the psychotherapy of children are discussed, and a reciprocal storytelling technique used by the author in his work with certain traumatized children is introduced. A clinical vignette is then presented. The vignette focuses upon the psychotherapy of a 10-year-old boy who had been a victim of multiple traumata, with particular attention given to the narrative discourse that evolved in the course of this boy's therapy. The evolution of this child's narrative is illustrated through the use of transcribed material derived from different phases of the boy's treatment.

Schizophrenia and the self: contributions of psychoanalytic self-psychology.

This article explores the unique contribution of psychoanalytic self-psychology to an indepth understanding of the subjective experience of the self in schizophrenia. The author makes the argument that with creative adaptation Kohut's experience-near concept of the primacy of the self--its development and vicissitudes of fragmentation/cohesion--and the salience and legitimacy of self-object needs in all human relationships can be applied to psychotic and schizophrenic experience. When so applied, there is reason to suspect that an important bridge to the subjective inner life of the schizophrenic patient will be achieved.

The cyclical pattern of child physical abuse from a psychoanalytic self-psychology perspective

Child physical abuse is a problem that moves from generation to generation. As yet, there has been no adequate theoretical conceptualization for this phenomenon. This article examines the multigenerational dimension of child abuse from the developmental perspective of psychoanalytic self-psychology. The research data available on the role of empathy in child abuse is integrated into the discussion and applied to the empirical basis of the self-psychology paradigm. Finally, the use of empathy in this theoretical model is applied to a discussion of intervention strategies in a number of treatment modalities.

Self-Objects, Self-Representation, and Sense-Making Crises: Political Instability in the 1980s

This paper presents a psychologically derived theory of revolution based on the notion of crises. It is suggested that a revolution is a phase in a process which may occur when a high proportion of a society experience an inability to construct their worlds in a satisfactory and fulfilling manner. Using psychoanalytic self-psychology, the role of self-objects in this process is specified as is the place of ideology and leadership. Ideology is seen as the mechanism by which individuals imbue their lives with meaning. Self-objects, a crucial part of all ideologies, can supply psychological well-being or lack of self-esteem leading to rage. Leaders create and disseminate ideologies which provide accounts of people's experiences as well as solutions to those sense-making crises especially likely to arise at times of rapid change. Leaders can also use sense-making crises and rage to mobilize their followers for political action including revolution.