Unconscious Anxieties Research Articles

The Mythical and Symbolic Dynamics of Tattooing in Melanie Fazi's Serpentine

This article offers a study of the mythical and symbolic dynamics of tattooing in Melanie Fazi's Serpentine, taking an approach based on the principles of mythocriticism. Far from being limited to an ornamental dimension, the tattoo in this novel becomes a central narrative medium, a vector of psychological and spiritual metamorphosis. By mobilizing the theories of Carl Jung on archetypes and Gilbert Durand on the symbolic imagination, the analysis reveals how magical inks – Mnemosyne, Somnifuge, Onirograph, Nocturne – update archetypal schemas, allowing the characters to transcribe their inner struggles in a cathartic approach. The body, thought of as a palimpsest, becomes the space for projecting unconscious anxieties and desires, thus articulating a dialectic between the visible and the invisible, the individual and the collective. The tattoo is then part of an initiatory logic, where the physical pain of the act represents a symbolic death and an identity rebirth. The article shows how Fazi redefines tattooing through a poetics of the body and myth, orchestrating a dialogue between ancestral motifs and contemporary issues of identity and memory. Serpentine thus presents itself as a complex reflection on transformation, rooted in a literary reinvention of universal archetypes.

Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy

Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) is a transdiagnostic treatment method rooted in the psychodynamic tradition. A basic assumption is that many of our feelings, thoughts, desires and inner conflicts are inaccessible to our consciousness and thereby trigger and maintain psychological problems. In the 1960s, the Canadian psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Habib Davanloo began developing the original ‘standard format’ of ISTDP. After continuously studying video recordings of his treatment sessions, Davanloo systematised effective factors which he could use in subsequent treatment sessions. In the 1990s, he further developed a ‘graded format’ of ISTDP with interventions that could be adapted to patients who are easily overwhelmed by anxiety and other emotions. In this article, we take a closer look at how ISTDP operationalises ‘unconscious anxiety’ and ‘unconscious therapeutic alliance’ as observable markers that provide the therapist with information about the therapeutic process and about the choice of interventions, illustrated through the case of Nadine. Keywords: Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, ISTDP, conflicting emotions, unconscious anxiety, unconscious therapeutic alliance

When Unconscious Desires Motivate Fund Selection: Active Share and Position Count May Do More to Relieve Angst Than Identify Skill

Identifying equity funds that are likely to outperform remains a daunting task for capital allocators. Traditional portfolio analyses provide useful insights into how a fund is being managed, but offer little clarity on the potential for ongoing success. Active share and position count were introduced as metrics that identify funds that will generate excess returns via skilled management. But this article argues that these metrics provide no information regarding future fund performance or manager skill. We further propose that active share and position count do more to relieve unconscious anxiety provoked during the allocation process than to enhance rigorous judgment.

Mistranslations of Subjectivity: The Textual Unconscious in Conrad’s Work

The article engages with Freud’s “Mystic Writing Pad” (1925) as an interpretative point of departure for reading the unconscious labour of the text in three of Conrad’s novels. The distinctive commonality of these texts is the occurrence of a form of mistranslation, known in translation theory as “false cognates”, or more colloquially, “false friends” or “faux amis”. The readings offered in this context highlight aporetic moments in these novels, moments of undecidability, where the use of false cognates seems to cross the boundary-lines of narrative levels, and cannot be exclusively assigned to either the character, or the narrator, or the author. These aporetic moments are, I suggest, textual equivalents of the physical points of contact in Freud’s model of the “mystic writing pad”. The convergence of metalepsis with linguistic distortion in the narration indicates, in all three cases, a reverberation of unconscious anxiety about paternity and filiation and desire for a grounding of subjectivity, which boil over and across the different layers of the text, challenging the ontological distinction between the textual and the psychic, and generating a process of transference which implicates the reader as well.

Dealing with disability as ‘matter out of place’: emotional issues in the education of learners with visual impairment

ABSTRACT Globally, education of children with disabilities increasingly occurs in inclusive school settings, requiring specialised teacher education. Scholars emphasise relational and instrumental skills, to overcome prejudice and exclusion. Visual impairment (VI) is emotionally evocative, presenting particular challenges to inclusion. Using data from in-service teacher education for VI inclusion in South Africa, this theoretical paper explores the personal and emotional barriers which teachers must negotiate surrounding the ‘new reality’ of VI in their classrooms if successful inclusion is to be achieved, and how teacher education may support this. We set qualitative data from an in-service short course for teachers of VI learners against ideas from disability studies, critical psychoanalysis and anthropology, conceptualising relational issues arising from VI in the classroom. Due to VI's evocation of unconscious anxieties in the observer, we argue that the experiences and needs of children with VI may be felt as ‘matter out of place’ in the classroom, confounding inclusion. Teacher anxiety threatens the capacity for containment and creativity, undermining the secure relationship which is elemental to successful learning. To manage the experiences, feelings and needs of VI learners, teachers require education which facilitates processing of their own emotions surrounding this evocative form of disability.

A Psychoanalytic Reading of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart

Abstract
 Psychoanalytic criticism probes deeply into human behavior, uncovering unconscious anxieties, desires, and problems. This study examines Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart (2017) from a psychanalytic perspective, highlighting Salim’s different stages of life and tracing the troubles he encounters. Psychoanalytic theory is applied to the concepts of family and early childhood experiences, as well as defense mechanisms: fear of abandonment, social shame and inferiority, low self-esteem, avoidance, fear of intimacy, and death and loss. The theme of death and loss becomes a hallmark of Salim’s mysterious family, which is full of secrets. Despite Salim’s accomplishments as a teenager, he finds himself occupied by his family conflicts. Later, he accepts his uncle Amir’s invitation to move to the United Kingdom (UK) to attend college. This study found that Salim’s traumatic experiences at an early age influenced his future choices and behaviors, particularly when he moved to the UK and met friends of different races from all over the world, each with their own story, which was definitely varied from his own. Eventually, Salim became overwhelmed by feelings of social inferiority, loss, and failure because he could not change his fate to a more brilliant future. The mysteries he spent his life attempting to solve, ultimately about his father, uncovered that his alienation and isolation was because of the dishonor his mother brought to the family to save her brother, Amir, from jail. However, his father’s story was revealed too late to heal Salim’s past trauma.

Listening for Trans Childism in Discursive Concern

ABSTRACT Keira Bell’s case against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust challenged the notion that children can consent to certain forms of gender-affirming care, and the subsequent trial has sparked global effects. This paper considers the unconscious fantasies and anxieties that surround both this trial and trans childhood more broadly. Although psychic phenomenon, the normalized defenses of adults continue to inform policy, healthcare, and have a significant impact on the materiality of trans lives. Drawing from Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, I argue that gender non-conforming children become an extension of their caregiver’s subjectivity and provide a unique container for adult’s projected, unbearable thoughts and feelings. In particular, Young-Bruehl’s use of three Freudian personality structures is helpful for tracing symptomatic expressions of childism and conceptualizing the different unconscious motivational forces behind otherwise disparate, public discourses of concern for the child’s wellbeing.

Ghosts in the nursery in exile—Supporting parenting in exile during the COVID‐19 pandemic

The early prevention project “Strong together!” supports refugee parents and their young children (0–4 years) in Berlin, Germany. It aims to mitigate the transmission of trauma to the generation born in exile. For refugee families who have only recently arrived in Germany, the COVID‐19 pandemic poses a particularly great challenge. Not only are they confronted with numerous challenges in respect to re‐building their lives in Germany after fleeing war and persecution, but are also vulnerable to conscious and unconscious anxieties, fantasies, and conflicts evoked by the pandemic and the threat it poses to their lives. This was observed in the context of the mother–child groups of “Strong together!”. Many expressed great insecurity, heightened levels of anxiety, re‐experiencing of traumatic scenes, and over‐strictly self‐isolating themselves and their children, even attraction to fundamentalist ideologies. In this paper, some of the empirical and clinical findings of “Strong together!” are summarized and reflected on within a framework of psychoanalytic trauma theory.

The Pipe Child and the Cork Child: Infantile Vulnerability and Malignant Symbiosis

The author, based on his experience of intensive psychoanalysis with children suffering from early developmental catastrophes, examines narcissistic intrusive identifications and their related unconscious phantasies, anxieties and defenses. The paper describes two central unconscious phantasies: that of Pipe Children, who experience themselves as open-ended, hollow pipes, helplessly subjected to infiltrations and invasions by the object’s psychic toxic material; and Cork Children, who feel compelled to stuff and block what they perceive as the object’s holes or internal voids, in order to keep the container functioning and themselves alive. Some varieties of internal scripts within the child are described, particularly those of children experiencing either the impenetrable object’s invasive projections of psychic materials, or a more primitive osmotic/diffuse identification, in which there is no clear differentiation or localization between leaking-in and spilling-out psychic materials in self and object.

Тревожный пациент на приеме у невролога

The article presents a review of scientific publications devoted to the study of the problem of anxiety disorders. The authors present modern views on the etiology and main pathogenesis mechanisms of normal and pathological anxiety. The article describes the most characteristic mental and somatic symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. It also highlights the symptoms that are commonly a somatic manifestation of unconscious pathological anxiety. Special attention is paid to the most frequent somatic symptom of generalized anxiety disorders — headache, the largest share in the structure of which is tension headache. Modern methods for the pharmacological treatment and drugs that optimally affect the main clinical manifestations of the disease are considered. The methods of rational and cognitive behavioral therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders are also described. Adding that, the article notes the features of communication between a doctor and a patient with anxiety. KEYWORDS: generalized anxiety disorder, somatic symptoms of anxiety, tension headache, dizziness, non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotics, aminophenylbutyric acid. FOR CITATION: Chutko L.S., Surushkina S.Yu. Patient with anxiety at a neurologist’s appointment. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2020;4(9):590– 594. DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2020-4-9-590-594.

“Making a person”: Clinical considerations regarding the interpretation of anxieties in the analyses of children on the autisto-psychotic spectrum

ABSTRACTIn the course of psychoanalysis, some children who are initially diagnosed as suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) turn out to move back and forth along an autisto-psychotic spectrum. This subgroup, or spectrum, is characterized by a mixture of paranoid-schizoid anxieties and less differentiated autistic anxieties-of-being. Thus, these children could be described as borderline autistic. The interpretation of unconscious anxiety proves to be a crucial factor in the analyses of these children. They are characterized by an overwhelming influx of intermingled anxieties. Thus, it is the analyst’s difficult task to try and trace the dominant, urgent anxiety and interpret it in its own “language.” It is helpful to interpret and show the child how autistic withdrawal serves against further fragmentation, and the way fragmentation prevents an influx of paralysing anxieties-of-being. Furthermore, different anxiety states require different technical considerations and means. This is especially so when the type of anxiety is related to disintegrated or unintegrated states of the body. Clinical material taken from a five-sessions-per-week analysis of a boy, initially diagnosed as ASD and later on as suffering from childhood schizophrenia, will attempt to demonstrate the internal dynamics and the technical challenges involved when working with the autisto-psychotic spectrum.

ISTDP and Its Contribution to the Understanding and Treatment of Psychotic Disorders.

In this article, we review Davanloo's metapsychology of the unconscious and how it can contribute to the current psychodynamic understanding and treatment of psychosis. In this framework, current attachment and emotions become connected with unconscious conflict-laden feelings about early attachment trauma at the core of the unconscious conflict. These conflict-laden feelings mobilize unconscious anxiety and defenses, which are alongside or, in and of themselves, constitute the entire picture of psychosis. Those patients with low emotional capacities are provided specific therapeutic techniques to bolster anxiety tolerance while those more defended patients are offered means to begin to accept and experience the feelings they have about present and past adverse experiences including those caused by psychosis itself. Case and case series research have shown this model to be clinically effective and cost effective as an adjunct to care. Case vignettes will describe the assessment of capacities and treatment frame for patients with a history of psychosis. Davanloo's metapsychology of the unconscious offers an important contribution to the current psychodynamic understanding of psychosis by considering the role of attachment, emotions and unconscious conflict and addressing these through specific psychodynamic interventions.

Ориентализация «другого» как страх перед своим народом: «Олеся» А. И. Куприна в постколониальной перспективе

ABSTRACTThe article explores the representation of hybrid Ukrainian and Russian identities in Aleksandr Kuprin’s story “Olesia” (1898). Using the concept of “internal colonization” as a nuanced version of postcolonial theory applied to the context of Russian Empire, the author analyzes the hidden motives that are linked to ethnic groups and stereotypes. The key feature of the main heroine, unnoticed by the previous scholars, is her Russian origin and, thus, the Ukrainian mimicry. This important detail enables a new interpretation of the protagonist’s love of Olesia. Both the love story and the orientalization of the heroine can be read as the Russian intelligentsia’s unconscious anxiety of dangerous peasants. The article traces how Kuprin discredits populist ideology and the idea of a civilizing mission working with the most painful myths and discourses of fin-de-siècle imperial culture.

Psychodynamic Reflections on Halo

In this paper we provide a psychodynamic reflection on the innovative first-person shooter videogame series, Halo. This paper describes the most important elements of the narrative as well as some innovative features of the videogame, which enables players to craft artistic objects (by oneself or in cooperation with other players) and to share them with other players online. We suggest that anxieties and conflicts of our era have been unconsciously represented in the Halo titles. Their narratives deal with the risk of extinction of humankind for both outer and inner disasters including the invasion by alien species from space, or self-destruction due to perverse use of scientific and technological progress. Therefore, playing the game (which involves both shooting at enemies and creating personal works-of-art) might have therapeutic functions, allowing the players to “work through” collective unconscious anxieties. This could explain the extraordinary success of the Halo brand and open new horizons in the development of future videogames. Potentially addictive (negative) aspects of the videogame are also considered.

Dreaming about the body: Daniel 2:32–35 interpreted from a psychoanalytical perspective

Just as the text is layered by redactional processes and its effects by reception processes, so different meanings of the statue of a human body in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream can be psychoanalytically ‘excavated’. Following a typical psychoanalytical dream interpretation, the possibility has therefore been explored of the body referring to the king as an individual before it was reinterpreted as a societal, collective body, the latter serving as a defence against the anxiety which the former would cause. Re-experiencing these common, human, unconscious anxieties and processing them could facilitate psychological healing and health, especially in the postmodern, pluralistic and eco-threatened context, which the dream seems to adumbrate.

Hypersexuality As a Neuropsychiatric Disorder: The Neurobiology and Treatment Options.

Hypersexuality refers to abnormally increased or extreme involvement in any sexual activity. It is clinically challenging, presents trans-diagnostically and there is extensive medical literature addressing the nosology, pathogenesis and neuropsychiatric aspects in this clinical syndrome. Classification includes deviant behaviours, diagnosable entities related to impulsivity, and obsessional phenomena. Some clinicians view an increase in sexual desire as 'normal' i.e. psychodynamic theorists consider it as egodefensive at times alleviating unconscious anxiety rooted in intrapsychic conflicts. We highlight hypersexuality as multi-dimensional involving an increase in sexual activity that is associated with distress and functional impairment. The aetiology of hypersexuality is multi-factorial with differential diagnoses that include major psychiatric disorders (e.g. bipolar disorder), adverse effects of treatments (e.g. levodopatreatment), substance-induced disorders (e.g. amphetamine substance use), neuropathological disorders (e.g. frontal lobe syndrome), among others. Numerous neurotransmitters are implicated in its pathogenesis, with dopamine and noradrenaline playing a crucial role in the neural reward pathways and emotionally- regulated limbic system neural circuits. The management of hypersexuality is determined by the principle of de causa effectu evanescent, if the causes are treated, the effect may disappear. We aim to review the role of pharmacological agents causing hypersexuality and centrally acting agents treating the associated underlying medical conditions. Bio-psycho-social determinants are pivotal in embracing the understanding and guiding management of this complex and multi-determined clinical syndrome.

Knowing What To Do, When, and How: An Integrative Approach to the Use of Psychoanalytic Play Therapy with Children Affected by Cancer

ABSTRACTThis article delineates a comprehensive approach to play therapy in work with children with cancer. It considers different psychological needs experienced by the patient in connection with significant moments related to cancer treatment and the psychological tasks it involves. Different therapeutic aims are presented, and the therapeutic components related to each are described in detail. The therapeutic aims approached by play therapy are reality testing and ego strengthening, unveiling and working through of unconscious conflicts related to disease, and defense maturation. Therapeutic components leading to the attainment of those aims include the provision of realistic information about diagnosis and treatment by means of play, the use of play as a space for containment, the detection and interpretation of unconscious anxieties and defenses within play, and the exploration and trial of adaptive defenses in the face of illness-related anxiety. Implications of this approach in terms of the precision and flexibility of therapeutic actions and the diversity of roles played by the therapist are discussed.

‘From where I’m looking it just seems like two people have missed the boat …’: understanding set behaviour from a socioanalytic perspective

Accounts of practice within the action learning literature tend to omit the more mundane session-to-session details of the inner-workings of the action learning set. As well as concentrating on the problem, individuals in all sets spend some of their time in unproductive interpersonal exchanges. These exchanges may be considered trivialities and not worthy of mentioning within an account of practice. The behaviour could, however, hold the key to understanding how the action learning group manages its unconscious anxieties associated with problem solving. In this article, using empirical research from his Ph.D. dissertation, the author explores how the insights developed by Wilfred Bion on groups, their unconscious behaviour and the anxiety of problem solving can help both action researchers and set participants better understand the working of their sets.

Promoting Awareness about Psychological Consequences of Living in a Community Oppressed by the Mafia: A Group-Analytic Intervention.

The effects of the Mafia have been extensively studied from sociological, economic, and historical points of view. However, little research has investigated the influence of the Mafia on individuals and communities in terms of its psychological and social impact. In order to contribute to the advancement of our understanding of the psychological effects of the Mafia on individuals and communities and to promote a participative process of social change, a group analytic intervention was conducted within a Community Based Participatory Research carried out in Corleone, a small Sicilian town with a historically recognized role in the evolution of the Mafia, as well as in the fight against its control. Qualitative findings from the group intervention revealed the development of an awareness process that allowed participants to become aware of their social unconscious anxieties and defenses and to recognize and manage the strong emotional impact related to the Mafia's presence in their lives. Highlighting how psychological processes can have negative impacts on individual and collective capacity to pursuit transformation and resilience, this article provides important insight on how clinical psychology may operate in socio-cultural contexts to promote the reconstruction of the traumatic social dimensions in the community.

ABOUT VALUE OF CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUSEMOTIONAL PROCESSES AT MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Research of conscious and unconscious emotional processes at 167 patients with multiple sclerosis in a condition of remission was conducted. The conscious and unconscious alarm (according to tests Taylor and Lusher), conscious and unconscious aggression (according to Bass-darky test and Hand test) in comparison to indicators of personal scales on the Standardized multidimensional personal questionnaire and the clinical and anamnestic of data was studied. At most of patients the high level of conscious and unconscious anxiety, the increased unconscious aggression at standard values of the general conscious aggression is revealed. The correlation analysis between indicators of emotional pro- cesses of the personality and clinical and anamnestic data revealed reliable interrelation of conscious and unconscious alarm, and also a depression (according to the test of Zung) with the phenomena of personal disadaptation and disease severity while conscious and unconscious aggression (on the general indicators) such relationship was no that is important for psychological diagnostics and rehabilitation.