Major Depression: A Brief History of Western Medical Treatment
Scott Mendelson in Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
One of the most important events in the history of psychiatry was the development of psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud. His famous book, The Interpretation of Dreams, was published in 1889. It established the basic tenets of psychoanalytic theory, which were that the mind contains both conscious and subconscious material. He postulated that childhood traumas thwarted natural drives, which led to conflicts between conscious and subconscious processes. As part of this process, individuals build resistance to making these conflicts accessible to awareness. Thus, special techniques were required to free, recognize, experience, and work through those traumas. Freud further proposed that systematic but unfettered release of freely associated thoughts allows unconscious material to emerge, and that skilled interpretation of material at the right stages allows the patient to regain awareness and control.
Attitudes about suicide over the ages
Donald Campbell, Rob Hale in Working in the Dark, 2017
As a consequence of their study and treatment of suicidal individuals, psychoanalysts are in a position to extend and also to challenge various assumptions and part-truths that other professionals and laymen have made about suicide. As we hope will become clearer in this book, the psychoanalytic process gives us the opportunity to study in minute detail the many component parts of the self-destructive process, and its waxing and waning control over a person’s life. Psychoanalytic theory has as its cornerstone the concept of the unconscious, which differentiates it from all other theories. It is in the unconscious that the fundamental suicidal fantasies reside; it is the purpose of analysis to make those fantasies conscious and thus more within the person’s control. Obviously psychoanalytic treatment is time consuming and not available to many people, but the insights psychoanalysis provides can be extended and integrated into the management and treatment of any suicidal individual. It is our hope that this book will convince you, the reader, of the usefulness of the psychoanalytic model, both in general mental health settings and in specialist psychotherapy services.
Creative, Imaginal, and Emotional Aspects of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Marcia L. Rosal in Cognitive-Behavioral Art Therapy, 2018
Imagery has always been a part of human heritage derived from magic, religion, philosophy, and literature (Waller, Schweitzer, Brunton, & Knudson, 2012). And it has been a part of the discussion in many philosophical and psychotherapeutic traditions. For example, although not directly addressed, psychoanalytic theory is replete with references to mental imagery as part of the unconscious. McKellar (1986) noted that concepts such as repression, free association, and transference are fraught with the “past doings of the imaged self” (p. 49). Freud was interested in imagery, too, and wrote The Interpretation of Dreams (1913), which even today is an important work on not one, but two, types of mental imagery—dreams and hypnogogic states. Imagery was addressed more directly in other in-depth psychology traditions. Dream interpretation and the use of active imagination were two techniques used by Jung in his work (Jung, 1965). Active imagination is the process of having a client pay close attention to all aspects of the dream imagery and then report these to the therapist, who watches for changes in the dreamscape. According to Jung, the dream reports uncovered clues to the individual’s unconscious. Jung also hypothesized that archetypal imagery forms part of our understanding of the collective unconscious (McKellar, 1986).
Shifting Skins: Love and Breakdown
Published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2018
Sophia Frydman
This article is about ruptures in the containing skin of romantic love. It is about the feeling of falling forever, and detaching from illusions, and reattaching in new ways. I am approaching this experience of precarious psychic survival after losing love through two brief case examples, and readings of Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment (2001)2In her nonfiction collection Frantumaglia (2016), Elena Ferrante acknowledges the influence of psychoanalytic theory—in particular, the writings of Melanie Klein—on her work. and Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook (1962). My discussion draws upon a field of psychoanalytic theory that establishes the internal representation of the body’s surface as the container of psyche and self. This work encompasses psychoanalytic concepts of “holding” (Winnicott, 1975[1956], 1960) and “psychic skin” (Bick, 1968, 1986); Didier Anzieu’s “skin-ego” (1974, 1989); and Lacan’s (1977[1949]) theory of the mirror stage. I extend this theory to romantic love, proposing that love can function as a powerful psychic skin that organizes our inner world, helping our lives feel purposeful and coherent and protecting us from what feels externally threatening. Such external threats may be projected elements of our own psyches (Klein, 1946) or true dangers existing in reality.
Against the Loss of Symbolic and Psychic Gay Spaces: A Discussion of Offerings from Lingiardi, Fox, and Ariza
Published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2018
Stephen Lugar
Pointing out contemporary psychoanalysis’s reluctance to use psychoanalytic theory to understand object choice, Fox makes a case for the importance of the Oedipal Complex in formulating sexual development, encouraging the examination of the Oedipal structures of gay men who were previously persecuted and pathologized by the field. He proposes as a central thesis “that we reopen the discussion about whether the significant relationships in a child’s early life can fundamentally shape their lifelong conscious sexual desire and fantasy program” (p. XX). Specifically referring to gay men, he proposes that a portion of gay men “aren’t born gay, but arrive at homosexual object choice as a result of early interpersonal experiences and fantasies” (p. XX). In a simple sentence closing out a paragraph, Fox quite subtly—yet controversially—asks, “Is it possible that in some minority of cases, the Oedipus Complex can in fact make you gay?” (p. XX). While the answer to this question is beyond the scope of this review, Fox makes a compelling case for why we should reopen the question.
Addiction to binge eating among women in psychologically abusive relationships: The moderating role of defense mechanisms
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2021
Orly Yona-Drori, Shirley Ben-Shlomo
The defense mechanisms referred to above are located according to classic psychoanalytic theory in the ego. The major function of the ego is to present reality and channel and control internal drive in the face of this reality through the erection of defenses (Mitchell & Black, 1995). The strength of the ego is examined through the psychological means and faculties to which a person has recourse in interacting with the world. Ego weakness, on the other hand, is examined through deficiencies that could make it difficult for a person to function in the world (Goldstein, 1995). Recourse to alcohol, food and drugs constitutes an attempt to minimize the impact of ego deficits (Brisman & Siegel, 1984). Binge eaters are motivated by a desire to escape self-awareness and avoid coping with burdensome internal or external pressures by narrowing attention to eating (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Psychoanalysis
- Psychopathology
- Repression
- Psyche
- Free Association
- Transference
- Dream
- Freudian Slip
- Unconscious Mind
- Signs & Symptoms