Psychoanalytic Approach Research Articles

INTERPRETATION OF THE CONCEPT OF "IDENTITY" IN MODERN SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL PROJECTIONS

The article provides a theoretical analysis of approaches to the definition of identity, such as psychoanalytic, symbolic interactionism, socio cultural, cognitive, continuum-hierarchical, narrative. The concept of "identity" is considered from the point of view of the structure or process. The article updates the narrative approach to the study of the process of forming identity. In general, the representatives of the narrative approach to the study of personality argue that the formation of identity is possible when the experience is redrawind of experience with the help of stories - narratives. This approach will allow to study the experience of the person, which is the basis of the concept of identity; as a result of conscious narratives of the individual about the past, present and future, the identity will be formed. Such mechanisms of identity construction as identification, introjection (psychoanalytic approach); active internalization and language (symbolic interactionism); cognitive, motivational, emotional, value mechanisms (socio-cultural approach) are considered; assimilation, accommodation and evaluation (continuum-hierarchical approach); social categorization, social identification, social comparison, imitation, internalization, adaptation, assimilation (cognitive approach); reflexive and value-semantic mechanisms (narrative approach). The article focuses on the reflexive and value- semantic mechanisms, because they enable the individuals to analyze, realize and construct their own identity.

Investigating D.H. Lawrence's Persona in Late Poems During the Savage Pilgrimage: A Psychoanalytic Approach

The academic field of literary criticism or literary theory has long taken advantage of the covert connection between literature and psychoanalysis, as this study did when it employed a psychoanalytic technique to analyze a literary work. Psychoanalysis is one of the contentious and unappreciated literary criticism philosophies among many readers (Hossain, 2017, p. 41). The persona or the character of the literary work is one of the literary methods. This study seeks to identify the late persona in D.H. Lawrence's final three collections of poetry, which were composed near the time of the author's death due to extremely poor health. The study of a writer's unintended message is referred to as psychoanalytical critique. The investigation's main point of interest is the author's biographical background. The main goal is to look at the unconscious components of a literary work in the context of the author's upbringing. It is a technique for correctly and critically understanding the literary material. Additionally, it is a type of psychoanalytic reading. We can understand literary texts better by using psychoanalytical thinking. We can swiftly master the subject matter thanks to the manipulation of the literary text and the sharper picture it produces. Psychoanalytical critique is one of the most fundamental reading strategies for comprehending the psyche (Ahmed, 2021, p. 2).

Emotional Management of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe's Main Character

This study aims to describe and reveal the main character's emotional management in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, a Penguin classics novel published in London in 1994. This study employs a descriptive qualitative technique and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic approach. The research data was derived from the novel's narrations and portrayal of the main character. The study found that the main character's psychology employed a defensive mechanism to regulate all the emotions that arose. The main character in this work uses suppression, rationalization, reaction construction, regression, anger and indifference, and imagination. Repression serves as the main character's protection mechanism in the narrative. The main character demonstrated that he attempted to channel his melancholy into thankfulness and to turn his anxiety into rational thinking.

Literature Study of Client Problems Psychoanalytic Criteria

This study aims to describe the use of psychoanalytic counseling on clients. This research is a type of literature study where the writer looks for references from articles, books, and other references that are in accordance with the discussion of the research article material. The advantages of counseling include that clients can find out about what problems they are actually not aware of because this approach explores internal conflicts that occur within individuals and we as counselors help clients to understand the problem and find what is the cause of the problem and formalize it to the client so that the client one of the weaknesses of the psychoanalytic approach is that counseling with this approach is considered less efficient in terms of time and cost because the time needed in therapy is quite long and costs a lot of money because digging into the client's past cannot be done only by just one meeting and make the client become bored in the therapy process. The conclusion of this study is that in the psychoanalytic approach, human beings are basically deterministic, which is determined by psychic energy and self-experience. Therefore, in counseling and psychoanalytic therapy, it emphasizes the re-establishment of a healthy personality structure in clients, by raising things in the unconscious into consciousness.

Corps affecté, corps éprouvé : existence des œuvres de Judith Scott et Frida Kahlo

ObjectivesThe aim here is to grasp the ways in which the creative body appears in the works to which it gives form. The works of Judith Scott and Frida Kahlo will be of particular interest to us in their ability to account for the incarnation and the existence of their bodies as experienced through the exploration of creation. MethodThis study attempts to give substance and environment to the works that are the object of our reflection through the dialogue of psychoanalysis, which questions the body at work and the body of the work under the aegis of Didier Anzieu; the phenomenology of Henri Maldiney, who is interested in the emergence of the work in the movement of Gestaltung; and the aesthetics of Georges Didi-Huberman, who is interested in the body, the flesh of images. ResultsThinking of the creative body as a « cutting body” allows us to glimpse the phenomena of the presence of the bodies at work and the body of the work. Their encounter does not perhaps emanate from a situation of loss or original lack but from a welcoming and shaping of what exists. DiscussionThe psychoanalytical approach does not seem sufficient to explore the sensoriality and bodily experiences at work in creation. Making links with aesthetics and phenomenology thus makes it possible to open up the time and space of creation to the effects of presence that inscribe the work and its creator in an ecology of gestures and forms. ConclusionThe creative body, tested and marked by pain and disability, the creative body outside a stable and normalized family genealogy, puts the work to the test as a « cutting body” that appears where it is cut, extends itself, and pushes the marks of its suffering.

At Home in Oneself: Self-States and the Treatment of Trauma

ABSTRACT What does it mean to be at home in oneself? How is that sense created, lost, and restored? This paper explores psychoanalytic self-state theory and illustrates its application to the treatment of painful, dissociated states originating in childhood trauma, using a blend of psychoanalytic and somatic approaches.

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.

Psychanalyse et médecine : ce que l’écoute de l’inconscient permet. L’exemple de la résistance thérapeutique dans la fibromyalgie

ContextThis article is based on S. Hertzog's doctoral research. It focuses on therapeutic resistance in fibromyalgia, i.e. the lack of pain relief despite a medical treatment. We explore causes and effects of this, through the prism of medical knowledge, but also through the psychoanalytical prism, which can shed light on both the doctor–patient relationship and on the unconscious stakes anchored in the history of the subject. AimsThis article aims to illuminate the ways in which psychoanalysis allows for a singular reading of the dominant discourse in the healthcare system, given the neoliberal context promoting productivity and quantifiable efficiency. Furthermore, the identification and analysis of the unconscious issues emerging in medical care allow us to understand what is at stake in such a context for the patient, who is likewise caught up in the issues of her/his history. MethodOn the basis of research interviews and content analyses of patients’ discourse, we have explored the different aspects outlined above. In this article we will expose a clinical case. ResultOur results are based initially on the study and effects of the neoliberal discourse. We have observed that the patient is asked to be autonomous in their choices and responsible for their behavior, while the healthcare system disarms the subject from the symbolic, structuring laws of the Other (heteronomy). The second part of our results allows us to focus on the question of the subject, specifically in relationship to illness and to the doctor, but also her/his demand for subjective appreciation, which is deeply rooted in a conflictual past, specifically in terms of identity. Interpretation/conclusionOur interpretation underlines how the individual deals with the social discourse that impacts the subject of the unconscious. In this sense, the psychoanalytical approach enriches our understanding of the effects of social and medical discourses, linked to the unconscious “stage”.

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.

Forgetting and Remembering in Wartime and Beyond: Reflections on essays by three Ukrainian psychoanalysts

ABSTRACT In this discussion I compare the accounts of the three writers, and consider the future they face as clinicians and human beings. I explore the shifts in clinical work, understanding, and self-definition that they have each experienced, both personally and in their work with Ukrainian soldiers. I also look at early psychoanalytic approaches to war trauma and the expanded understanding that has emerged from work with veterans of the Vietnam War I briefly explore my own family history of war and consider important shifts in psychoanalytic work that are necessary when working with combat soldiers. These include a shift to a contemporary understanding of neutrality, the importance of witnessing and community, widening the availability of the therapist, and integrating more active approaches. I also reflect on the shifts in national identity that have been fueled by the invasion of Ukraine.

Exploring the Fundamental Cause of Social Crime: A Study of Sexual Violence, Mass Murder, Burglary, and Corruption

There are effective police mechanisms administered by the governments in each country, for instance, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of Nepal Police in Nepal. The authority claims its mechanism is intact and highly alert to find convicts, but they appear to be walking out in the street freely. This indicates that the police mechanisms have been unable to control the crimes despite their high alerts. This article explores the fundamental causes of social crimes that are increasing alarmingly. The study shows that the fundamental cause of crime is the inherent weakness of a person who cannot control emotions of jealousy and anger. The uncontrolled anger of a person leads them to the stage of crime. The criminal may also have psychological disorder leading to accidental crime. Several types of social crime are prevalent, but this study discusses the causes of sexual violence, mass murder, burglary, and corruption. The study has applied the psychoanalytical approach to investigate the issue.

The neglected object: A history of the concept of dreams in Polish psychiatry and psychology in the interwar period, 1918-1939.

The development of the concept of dreams in interwar Polish psychiatry and psychology was influenced by Western European concepts as well as by sociocultural factors of the newly independent state. Few Polish psychiatrists addressed the subject of dreams. They were influenced mainly by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic concept of dreams, but also by Alferd Adler's, Carl Gustav Jung's, and Wilhelm Stekel's ideas. Nevertheless, they approached psychoanalysis critically. The most comprehensive concept of dreams in Polish psychiatry was oneiroanalysis by Tadeusz Bilikiewicz. Oneironalysis was a method of dream analysis based on psychoanalysis but it rejected the psychoanalytic method of free associations and challenged psychoanalytic approaches to the interpretation of dream symbols. Polish psychologists were even less interested in dreams than psychiatrists. Problems with dreams, the most elaborate psychological work by Stefan Szuman consisted of an outline of epistemological problems with general theories of dreams and a harsh critique of psychoanalysis. The neglect of the subject of dreams in Polish psychiatric society can be seen as connected with the social and professional reception of psychoanalysis in Poland. Psychoanalysis was met with opposition from conservative scholars and publicists presenting nationalistic and anti-Semitic attitudes. It was also criticized by the biologically oriented majority of psychiatrists of the Polish Psychiatric Association. In the case of psychology, the most influential Polish psychological school, Lvov-Warsaw School, promoted Brentanian intentionalism, introspection, and psychology of consciousness, therefore, leading to psychologists' reluctance to explore unconscious states like dreams.

Populism of Religious Conservative Parties in Turkey: A Psychoanalytical Approach

Despite the growing number of works attempting to understand and explain the Justice and Development Party’s (JDP) populism, we possess limited insight into the longue durée of Islamic populism in Turkey and its pyscho-political origins. Therefore, this article highlights the lines of continuity and change in the populist strategy of Islamist parties with reference to the discourse of their leaders who managed to present their changing, growing, but partial support base as the totality of the people. Since social, economic, and political crises played a significant role in the rise of these Islamist parties in Turkey, this study relies on Laclau’s logic of populism blended with a Lacanian psychoanalysis, underlining the significance of crises in the formulation and articulation of populist demands. This study will thereby offer a new understanding of the rise of Islamist parties that successfully defined, redefined, and then redefined “the people” they claim to represent through a populist discourse and strategy in Turkey.

The Curious Case of Tommy (Woodrow) Wilson

Abstract This essay review explores the representation of the twenty-eighth president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, in a curious project involving Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and US diplomat William C. Bullitt that began soon after Wilson’s death in 1924. The article focuses on political scientist Patrick Weil’s investigative account of this collaborative project in his 2023 book The Madman in the White House and interrogates the ways in which Freud and Bullitt’s psychoanalytic approach to Wilson unearths deep tensions between public and private lives. These tensions reveal themselves both in the subject of their psychobiography—Woodrow Wilson the statesman contrasts with the more neurotic private persona Tommy Wilson—and in the motivations and misgivings expressed by Bullitt and Freud in their unique yet controversial collaboration.Weil’s initial and closing focus is a collaborative account of Wilson drafted by Sigmund Freud and the US diplomat William C. Bullitt in the late 1920s and early 1930s during a phase when Bullitt was being analyzed by Freud in Paris

Trauma, Home, and Geopolitical Bordering: A Lacanian Approach to the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract In this article, we read the COVID-19 pandemic from a Lacanian perspective, in which trauma and ontological insecurity are at the heart of the analysis. Using a psychoanalytical approach allows us to grasp why the most common response to the pandemic consisted of intensified commitments to home, nationalism, and exclusionary bordering practices and, in effect, a return to geopolitical notions of “sovereignty.” This can be read in light of Lacan’s discussion of memory as a form of repetition, implying that any attempt to construe history in terms of a coherent narrative misses the unconscious, traumatic compulsion to repeat. In light of this, we consider populist responses to the pandemic as well as how the pandemic has worked as a “great unequalizer.” Such developments, we argue, must be read as representing a fragmentation of the national body and as heightening the vulnerabilities and asymmetric structures of power that inhere in what Lacan refers to as the symbolic order. Here, we propose that a postcolonial re-conceptualization of Lacan’s understanding of the mirror image and the Real is necessary if we wish to establish how the pandemic has reinforced existing patterns of abjectification and marginalization.

“Relational homeˮ as a strategy for an intersubjective psychoanalytic approach to working with the consequences of psychic trauma

This article attempts to theoretically analyse the concept of “relational homeˮ, introduced by Robert D. Stolorow. The clinical and theoretical contexts of the formation of this concept, due to the original theory of mental trauma, formulated within the framework of intersubjective psychoanalysis, are studied. Based on this study, an analysis of this concept was made. In the course of this study, the content of this concept was revealed. A phenomenological analysis of various types of mental trauma was carried out, in relation to which Robert D. Stolorow proposes to apply this strategy. And also a comparison was made between two different situations: using the considered strategy in relation to a person experiencing a painful affect, as well as in relation to a person who has experienced a mental trauma. It has been pointed out that this difference reveals two different types of emotional shelter, one of which takes place in human relationships in everyday life, and the second, mainly refers to the situation of psychological counseling. The article also proposed an interpretation of these varieties of psychoanalytic strategies in terms of intersubjective field theory, designed to emphasise the importance of this distinction.

Health in the motivational process of organic product consumption: A socio-psycho hermeneutical approach

Social research on organic consumption has increased in recent decades, partly due to its growing demand in central economies. Different studies have agreed to point out that health is one of the most relevant factors that help explain organic consumption. However, a substantial part of these studies are quantitative and fail to clearly establish the role played by health as a motivational element for organic consumption. This paper proposes an analysis of how the symbolic image of organic consumption is configured in light of the significant and emotional relationships that it establishes with health in order to advance knowledge about the motivational process in this type of consumption. We propose an articulation between a sociological and psychoanalytic approach that allows us to interpret how certain non-conscious fantasies and certain emotional states mediate the relationships with which consumers orient their experiences in their daily socio-cultural reality. The empirical analyses of the work have consisted of conducting focus groups and interviews with organic consumers who meet the majority profile in the Catalan market. The results reveal a Manichaean discourse on health and food reality where the organic acquires a defensive and reactive sense linked to the protection and stimulation of personal health. However, it is a discourse that does not manage to get out of the paradox of food modernity: the greater the insistence on risk, the more the fantasy of total protection is fed.

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.

Phobia Impacts on Adolescents' Psychological Security: A Psychoanalytic Approach

This research employs a psychoanalytic approach to investigate the effects of phobias on the psychological security of adolescents and the implications for their socio-educational development. The study postulates that phobias result in emotional discomfort and dissatisfaction, thereby weakening individuals' volitional sphere and impairing decision-making capabilities. Data collected were empirically analyzed to discern the balance between self-emotional assessment and psychological protection opportunities during adolescence. The results indicate that phobias, among other effects, reduce environmental tolerance, hinder self-control and personal belief in one's strengths, impede resistance to internal and external influences, decrease self-satisfaction, disrupt communicative skills, and negatively affect the mental state. These impacts collectively lead to a significant drop in the efficiency of the activities a person engages in. Consequently, the study underscores the importance of proper educational interventions from school administrators, teachers, psychologists, and parents to ensure the psychological well-being of adolescents. This approach promises to enhance their resilience and psychological security, enabling their optimal participation in socio-economic activities.
 Highlights:
 
 
 
 
 Phobias significantly affect the psychological security of adolescents, impairing their decision-making capabilities and reducing their overall effectiveness in activities.
 A psychoanalytic approach provides insights into the balance between self-emotional assessment and psychological protection opportunities during adolescence.
 Educational interventions from stakeholders (school administrators, teachers, psychologists, parents) are critical in managing phobias among adolescents, promoting psychological well-being, and fostering socio-economic participation.
 
 Keywords: Phobias, Adolescents, Psychological Security, Psychoanalytic Approach, Emotional Discomfort
 
 

Conceptual analysis of the narrative strategy of the text of the propaganda speech from the position of the post-Romanov psychoanalytic approach

The article presents the author's version of narrative analysis based on the methodology of post-Romanov political psychoanalysis and discourse analysis of the text of a propaganda speech. The concepts of the master signifier, the points of attachment, the double movement of signifiers in the structure of the narrative as the basis for the internalization of the ideas and values of the narrative by the addressee of communication are actualized. The matrix of the university's discourse is considered as a constructive basis that ensures the promotion and functioning of the narrative. The analysis of the case of the speech of the US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 is given. The initial theoretical positions and conclusions are correlated with the data of public opinion polls conducted by the Gallup Institute.The author's main contribution to the theory of narrative analysis is the approbation of the conceptual apparatus of political psychoanalysis to propaganda texts. The study of the phenomenon of internalization of the narrative of war in the mass consciousness requires a deep understanding of the driving forces underlying the processes under study. For the first time, the media text is analyzed from the perspective of a psychoanalytic approach, with the possibility of defining and describing specific reference points of a speech that determine its structure and final result. The proposed study lays the prerequisites for the further development of the concept of the narrative life cycle and the formulation of the concept of the counter-narrative, the definition of the inherent limitations and opportunities of this life cycle.