Evidence is presented for the thesis that there are powerful unconscious wishes for a state of oneness with "the good mother of early childhood" and that gratification of these wishes can enhance adaptation. The main data that support this thesis come from experiments in various laboratories employing the subliminal psychodynamic activation method with over 40 groups of subjects from varied populations. These studies have reported that the 4-millisecond exposure of stimuli intended to activate unconscious symbiotic-like fantasies (usually the words MOMMY AND I ARE ONE) produces ameliorative effects on different dependent variables in a variety of settings. It is then proposed that patient-therapist relationship factors in psychotherapy, seen by many as a common agent of change in different forms of treatment, owe their effectiveness, in part, to their having activated these symbiotic-like fantasies. Further studies are outlined that would provide a more definitive test of this proposition.
It should be borne in mind that the term psychoanalytic refers to a treatment modality and a research method as well as to a theory. It is only the latter with which I am concerned in this article.
Discusses experiments reported by T. J. Condon and G. J. Allen and by K. Heilbrun in which the subliminal psychodynamic activation method yielded negative results. An attempt is made to account for these findings in the context of a number of reports by other investigators of similar experiments that yielded positive results. (20 ref)
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