Volume V, no. 2 - 2012 (17)

Editorial (Daniela Luca) / Savca Victor

Abstract: Dans son livre La Construction de l’espace psychanalytique, SergeViderman nous a decrit la relation transfert – contre-transfert par unemetaphore eclaircissante sur la part obscure de notre espace psychique:≪Imaginons deux phares tournant en sens inverse et dont les feux secoupent periodiquement. C’est lorsque transfert et contre-transferts’entrecroisent que se situent les moments de la plus grande brillance. Moments privilegies ou fulgure la verite de l’interpretation≫. This article is available in French only.Read moreKeywords:

1 - Psychoanalysis in the shadow of terror – Dealing with anxiety in a period of crisis (Ilany Kogan) / Savca Victor

Abstract: At a time when war and destruction arepart of everyday life, and our safety isincreasingly threatened, one of thequestions we Israeli analysts ask ourselvesis, what is the place of psychoanalysis insuch a world? Can we in good faithpropose to practice psychoanalysis insituations of great anxiety caused by acrisis, and can we, in the face of the effectof terrorism, hold on to our identities aspsychoanalysts? The relationship betweenexternal and internal realities in asituation of chronic life-threatening crisisprovides a natural laboratory in which tore-examine fundamental questionsregarding the practice, as well as thetheory, of psychoanalysis. In this paper,situated at the boundary of external andinternal reality, and at the boundary of thepersonal and the professional, I willexamine the way the analyst deals with hispatient's as well as his own anxiety in asituation of crisis. In the light of clinical material taken from one of my case studiesI wil explore the role of the analyst inpsychoanalytic treatment in suchsituations. Read moreKeywords:

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2 - Commentary on «Psychoanalysis in the shadow of terror – Dealing with anxiety in a period of crisis» by Ilany Kogan (Luis Rodríguez de la Sierra) / Savca Victor

Abstract: What role do we give to external reality when we have a patient lying onthe couch? Is it useful at all to even mention external reality in apsychoanalytic setting? Does it belong to an analysis conducted in theclimate described by Ilany?The issue of external reality in relation to internal reality has beencontended from the earliest days. This has happened not only in thespecific field of psychoanalysis, but in all human sciences, going as far backas the philosophers’ clash between “idealists” or “subjectivists” and“materialists” or “objectivists”. Attempts have been made in all humansciences in order to try to bridge the gap, to harmonise opposing tendenciesto gain a better understanding. Read moreKeywords:

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3 - L’espace et le temps du contre-transfert (Brîndusa Orăşanu) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. The paper starts from the perspective of H. Racker on the countertransference. Thepaper is proposing to make the linksbetween his concepts of analytic functionand subjective experience, with theconcepts of analytic space and analytictime. The author describes a phenomenonof the analysts’ internal space and timedilatation, as well as that of the creation ofa subjective time, as a consequence of thedreaming activity during the session. Thebalance between countertransference forcesis linked to the analysts’ capacity ofwaiting, to the assessment of thequantitative factor, and to the narcissisticdimension of the analyst’s transference. The paper is referring here to the conceptof “respect”, for the characters and thescenes (Ferro) and for the process(Winnicott). The author makes acomparison between two clinical vignettesof Beckett, by D. Anzieu. Read moreKeywords:

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4 - Une approche historique au concept de contre-transfert (Giampaolo Kluzer) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. In this article, the author tries to illustrate,from a historical point of view, howFreud’s urgent desire to take a distancefrom his initial practice in hypnosis to beable to establish a new psychoanalyticaltheory and practice, more scientific andout of all kind of suggestive influences, hasblocked him to give an adequate value tothe countertransference aspects involved inthe analyst-analysand relation. Only in hislatter writings, "Constructions inanalysis", he approaches this issue, even ifin an implicit way, underlying thepersonal countertransference elementsexistent in the working of the constructionof the analyst. Read moreKeywords:

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5 - Countertransference: our difficulties in the treatment of substance abuse (Luis Rodríguez de la Sierra) / Savca Victor

Abstract: In this paper, the author is trying toclarify, through different psychoanalyticaltheories (A. Freud, P. Heimann, H. Deutsch, M. Little, C. York, H. Rosenfeldetc.) and also through his own clinicalpractice with addictive patients how theanalytic treatment of these patients doesnot succeed if one insists on a rigidadherence to the classical method. Thismeans that many parameters have to beintroduced in the analysis and that theanalyst must play a more active role, i.e. those aspects of psychoanalytical techniquethat can (arguably) be modified to meet theneeds of particular classes of patients. Theso called parameters are really not verydifferent from the technique which AnnaFreud called “developmental help”. Theauthor underlines thecountertransferential difficultiesencountered in the treatment of the addict,that are not very different from many thatwe find in the treatment of adolescents. Inboth cases the analyst is bombarded from every corner with an intensity both inquality and quantity, which, unless wellprepared for in advance, one is very muchin danger of succumbing to. The relevanceof the empathy and the therapist's personalvalues, opinions and attitudes to the addictand the alcoholic need to be acknowledged. This is one of the occasions when thebenefits from a personal psychoanalytic orpsychotherapeutic experience are clearlyseen. Read moreKeywords:

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6 - The regressive potential of countertransference (Monica Balaşa) / Savca Victor

Abstract: The notion of countertransference hasknown a troubled history within the boundof psychoanalysis and was borrowed, moreor less successfully and more or lessadequately, by multiple psychotherapeuticcurrents, some placed entirely outside thespectrum of psychoanalysis. The authorwill try to approach countertransferencefrom a psychoanalytical perspective, morespecifically the way countertransferenceand regression (both of the patient andanalyst) manifest themselves, as well asthe adjustments necessary between thetwo, considering that without a goodcapacity for regression the analyst maymiss the "unconscious to unconscious"meeting point - that, on the one hand; onthe other, a regression too emphasized ortoo long of the analyst may jeopardise thetreatment, by activating the unconsciousdefence mechanisms, both in the therapistand the patient, leading to theconsolidation of resistance. This specificmanifestation and adjustment make the profession of psychoanalyst "an impossibleprofession" (Freud, Green), consideringthat self-analysis is one of the (incompleteand insufficient) solutions at thetherapist's disposal. Read moreKeywords:

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7 - The first interview and countertransference (Gianina Micu) / Savca Victor

Abstract: It is a certified fact that the therapeuticmeeting psychoanalyst-patient during thepreliminary interview engages theprotagonists in an explicitly convergentintercession, an agreement in theconscious register for a joint effort thataims to cure suffering and ameliorate selfknowledge. This facet of the relationdefines the therapeutic alliance. However,what happens in parallel, in the subsurfaceof the meeting implies, likewise from thebeginning, the more cryptic register of theunconscious, subtly looms in both thepatient’s precocious transferential movements and in the therapist’scountertransference response. The paper,centered mainly on the latter aspect, setsto give a possible answer to such inquiriesas how much, in what way and if theycould be traced so early in the cure, andespecially, to what extent are or could beconsidered (in) the key of the futureanalysis. Read moreKeywords:

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8 - Dimensions contre-transférentielles dans la thérapie des conduites addictives (Rodica Matei) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. The somatic continent is an unknown landfor psychoanalysis and, for this reason, itis avoided. The patient’s expression on thisregister is frequently ignored by thetherapist, even if it refers to the deeper andstructuralized levels of his personality. Considering the psychogenesis of theaddictive behaviors, the pain subjected ofthe body symptoms finds his origin intothe earliest stages of the psychicdevelopment, stages when the words werenot yet skills of the psychic elaboration. The anxiety in front of the loss of theaddictive or somatic symptoms is moreintense because the capacity of psychicelaboration of the Ego risks to be overcomeby the psychic movements. Through thesignifiers that operate in the analyticspace, except thing-representation andword-representation, it is necessary toconsider also the affect, the bodyimpression and the act. In the case of an addictive patient, the representationprocess didn’t succeed in gaining theword-representation. Thus, he’s utilizingthe specific manners of representation andhe tries to integrate them in the analyticspace. In the transference, the analyst ischallenged to recognize them, and he musttry to help the patient to verbalize them. The addictive solution is a necessity of apsyché with the capacity of representationsin deficit to the extent it finds in itself aresponse to his needs. The body functionsare attributed a symbolic value, theerogenous functions and zones areinvested so as to replace the the function ofelaboration belonging to the thinkingprocess. Read moreKeywords:

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9 - PAROLES D’HOMMES de Jacques André (Daniela Luca) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. Read moreKeywords:

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10 - Commentary on «The regressive potential ofcountertransference» by Monica Balaşa (Alfred Dumitrescu) / Savca Victor

Abstract: The paper written by Monica Balasa brought to my mind the imageof the obstacles course of a riding event, a contest in which horse and ridertry to get over the obstacles faultlessly and as quickly as possible. I thinkthis impression is due to the large number of ‘gates’ left half-open by thispaper which, by lack of enough space, invites us to explore those barelytouched issues at leisure, individually or in small groups, once thisConference will be over. Read moreKeywords:

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11 - Le fauteuil des idéologies et le divan de la psychanalyse. Essai de (non) connaissance psychanalytique de la confluence entre croyances et convictions (Matei Georgescu) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. Discussion sur «Le contre-transfert du psychanalyste et la croyance du patient. Séquences cliniques» d’Irena Talaban. Read moreKeywords:

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12 - Discussion sur «Le contre-transfert dans la clinique contemporaine. Une séance déplacée» de M. Vincent (Brîndusa Orăsanu) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. Read moreKeywords:

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13 - Commentary on «The rule of abstinence and the countertransference» by Vasile Dem. Zamfirescu (Daniela Irimia) / Savca Victor

Abstract: Mr. Zamfirescu’s work references an important debate, related firstly tocountertransference as a consciously controlled reaction to the patient’stransference, and secondly, to countertransference as a profoundly subconsciousphenomenon, which engages the therapist, but only après-coup, as the French haveit. And here follow a myriad of questions which could give further meaning to thisdiscussion. Read moreKeywords:

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14 - La construction de soi dans le regard de l’autre (François Marty) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. It would be difficult to think that theconstruction of the psychic life could beginonly with the fantasizing activity. Itwould mean to put away the interactionsthat are established since origin betweenthe baby and the outside world, andespecially with the mother. It would meannot to recognize the containing andstructuring value of the face of themother, with the function to reflect thechild's own psychic activity. Thesubjectivity of the child is setting up in theintersubjectivity with his mother: thesubject exists only in the relation with theobject. This short article underlines first ofall the pertinence and the depth of the D. W. Winnicott’s thinking on this topic, as agood following of the Lacan’s theory on themirroring function in the construction ofthe je, before outlining some consequencesof the reflexive function of the analystduring the experience of the therapy. Read moreKeywords:

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15 - Arbitrariness, Psychoanalytic Identity and Psychoanalytic Research (Joseph Schachter and Horst Kächele) / Savca Victor

Abstract: From the outset, psychoanalysisextensively utilized arbitrary convictionswhich subsequently generated andperpetuated an intolerance of criticism anddissent. Defensiveness about thearbitrariness and the need to protect theprofessional psychoanalytic identityengendered fear of, disinterest in, andcriticism of analytic research whosefindings might threaten unsubstantiatedarbitrary convictions. For these, and othercomplex reasons, American psychoanalysishas generated limited formal, empiricalanalytic research. Recently,psychoanalysis has declined in status andprestige, due, at least in part, to societalchanges. The persistent arbitrariness andthe dearth of research have preventedeffective responses to the external forcesresponsible for the decline. The mosteffective way to respond to the continuingdecline is to develop a broad researchprogram focused on providing empirical bases for the fundamentals ofpsychoanalysis. You cannot graftresearch onto the currentpsychoanalytic clinical identity; itcannot flourish. Therefore, allpsychoanalytic education should bemodified by having all teaching conductedjointly by researchers and clinicians ifthe necessary research cadre is to bedeveloped. Read moreKeywords:

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16 - Le contre-transfert du psychanalyste et la croyance du patient. Séquences cliniques (Irena Talaban) / Savca Victor

Abstract: This article is available in French only. Psychoanalytical theories definetransference and countertransference asexpressions of unconscious exchangebetween patient and therapist. Thecountertransference is the therapist'sanswer to patient's unconscious requests. Ferenczi and, later, Lacan, change part ofthe meaning of countertransference,shifting the center of gravity from patientto therapist (Lacan even reverses it): thetransference is the patient's answer to theanalyst's countertransference). Theethnopsychiatry approaches thecountertransference and transferenceaccording to the therapist's theory and thepatient's internal frame (its attachmentsfrom the group of cultural belonging). Read moreKeywords:

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