The Psychoanalytic Encounter and the Misuse of Theory

Description

In clear, accessible language, Lee Grossman addresses the disjuncture between analytic literature and clinical work in an effort to render analytic theorizing more representative of clinical experience. Pointing out the ways in which analytic literature can fail to capture the intensity of feeling and the stumbling, lurching, working in the dark that captures much of clinical engagement, Grossman shows how incomprehensibility is sometimes mistaken for wisdom. As an alternative, Grossman shows how attention to what he calls the syntax of thought can naturally define three different broad categories of life experience: the omnipotence of the neurotic, the wishful, short-sighted thinking of the perverse, and the concrete, disordered thinking of the psychotic. Using rich clinical material, interspersed with detailed exposition and artful satire, Grossman departs from conventional theoretical writing to provide new ways of conceptualising analytic therapy. Addressing analytic therapy as an encounter between two people, both governed by forces about which they know very little, this book provides essential insights for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and other clinical practitioners both in training and in practice. Cover Endorsement Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What Is This, Who Am I, and Why Should You Care? Note References Part I With Whom Do We Do What We Do? Chapter 1 Neurosis as a Way of Thinking: The Syntax of Unconscious Oedipal Thought Freud’s Usage Neurotic Thought A Clinical Sketch Repression and Oedipal Thought Non-Neurotic Psychic Organization Summary and Concluding Remarks Notes References Chapter 2 The Syntax of Oedipal Thought in the Case of Little Hans The Syntax of Dream, Fantasy, and Fable Causation and Egocentrism Repression and Defense Conscious Contradictory Ideas The Syntax of the Compromise Notes References Chapter 3 The Third Wish: Some Thoughts On Using Magic Against Magic Note References Chapter 4 Perverse Syntax and the Perverse Attitude Toward Reality The Role of the Superego Clinical Considerations Discussion Note References Chapter 5 Reality Testing in Perverse Organization Psychic Reality Reality and Reality Testing Reality and Perverse Defenses Another Clinical Example The Patient’s Reality and the Analyst’s Reality Note References Chapter 6 The Object-Preserving Function of Sadomasochism The Evolution of Freud’s Views On Sadomasochism A Digression: The Instinct for Mastery Aggression, Sadism, and Masochism The Developmental Assumptions of the Present Chapter Fort-Da Revisited Aggression and Sadism: A Proposal Sadomasochism and Reversibility: A Developmental Speculation What Does This Distinction Look Like? A Less Extreme Clinical Example Sadomasochism and Perversion Summary and Concluding Remarks Notes References Chapter 7 Inventing Oneself: The Effort Toward Self-Cure in a Psychotic Woman The First of Many Treatment Crises Two Charged Memories Discussion The Effort to Invent Oneself What Am I, Chopped Liver? The Syntax of Psychotic Mentation Note References Chapter 8 Neurotic, Perverse, and Psychotic Action Neurotic Action Perverse Action Psychotic Action Part II What Do We Do When We Do What We Do? Chapter 9 The Syntax of the Presenting Complaint The Nature of the Categories Discussion Notes References Chapter 10 An Observation On Naming and Language Ben Ellen Note References Chapter 11 The Analyst’s Influence Clinical Example Interpretive Influence Noninterpretive Influence The Analyst’s Authority Note References Chapter 12 What the Analyst Does Not Hear Ms. F Notes References Chapter 13 Analytic Technique: A Reconsideration of the Concept The Functions of Technique: Rules, Principles, and Attitudes Where Do Technical Principles Come From? Clinical First Principles The Function of Theoretical Schools The Relation of Theory to Clinical Practice What Is Gained and What Is Lost Implications for Teaching References Part III Empathy and Countertransference Chapter 14 Empathy and “Countertransference” References Chapter 15 The Person in the Analyst’s Chair The Analyst as Catalyst: Context and Consequences of the Debate The Analyst Acting: What Do We Mean By Technique? The Analyst Being: Character and Technique Countertransference: One Contemporary View Concluding Remarks Notes References Part IV Acting and Reflecting Chapter 16 In and Out of the Frame: Moving Between Experience and Reflection Notes References Chapter 17 Play in Analysis Notes References Coda Writing About Analytic Writing Chapter 18 Reading Ogden Reading Winnicott Notes References Chapter 19 The Duration of Analysis: A Contribution to the Discussion The Analysis Discussion Initial Phase: Resistance to the Awareness of the Transference Middle Phase: Transference Neurosis Termination Phase: Accepting Reality Implications for Technique Postscript References Chapter 20 A Desultory Excursion Into New Developments in Psychoanalysis The Case of Frau Agnes Discussion Notes References The Last Word Index