Dream, Phantasy and Art

Segal, Hanna

doi:10.4324/9780203013731

Cited by 45 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…It is easy to see the developmental link between such poison phantasies and Melanie Klein's claim that the young child projects its instinctual hatred and envy into the maternal breast, thereby turning good milk into a poisonous substance attacking it from within. Such phantasies, because they are based on somatic sensations and are not distinguished from reality, have a profound influence upon the body (Segal, 1991). All the participants mentioned somatic responses as part of their bewitchment experiences, and it was clear how phantasy influenced their interpretation of their somatic sensations and ailments.…”

Section: The Paranoid Orientationmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part II): A Psychoanalytic Model for Conceptualising and Working with Bewitchment Experiences

Ivey

Myers

2008

South African Journal of Psychology

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This article extends the phenomenological description of bewitchment experience outlined in Part I, arguing for a viable psychological explanation of what is claimed to be a supernatural phenomenon. Any adequate explanation must satisfactorily account for the four characteristic features of bewitchment experience; that is, a paranoid state of mind, the presence of a precipitating interpersonal context of hostility and envy, a dichotomous moral and religious belief structure, and the subjective experience of having one's body infiltrated by poisonous substances or destructive alien entities. Beginning with Freud's claim that all supernatural belief systems unconsciously express and simultaneously defend adherents against universal instinctual impulses and anxieties, Klein's object relations psychoanalytic model is proposed as a useful interpretive framework to understand the four interrelated aspects of bewitchment. Bewitchment. it is argued, is a culturally sanctioned supernatural belief system used defensively by individuals to protect themselves against acknowledging and experiencing a range of painful and anxiety-provoking feelings, typically involving hostility, envy, and loss. Bewitchment arises when individuals split off and project problematic self aspects elicited by adverse or stressful experiences, locating these in hated or envied others, who are then believed to use witchcraft to magically attack and harm the victims. This theoretical model is supported and illustrated by means of a case study of the psychodynamic treatment of a 'bewitched' patient. This case is used to demonstrate some of the psychotherapeutic challenges of treating patients who attribute their psychological difficulties to magical influences.

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Section: The Paranoid Orientationmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part II): A Psychoanalytic Model for Conceptualising and Working with Bewitchment Experiences

Ivey

Myers

2008

South African Journal of Psychology

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“…Reparation is one of those complex psychoanalytic concepts that contains many ambiguities, including a tinge, at least, of hostility alongside its dominant ameliorative connotations. As Stonebridge argues, some of this can be seen in Kleinian analyses of creative artwork (understood as produced largely through reparative processes - Segal, 1990), which contain their own dynamic of destruction and reparation, although it is perhaps more arguable whether the hostile component of 'reparations' is maintained within contemporary Kleinian clinical thinking.…”

Section: War Barbarism Rationalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychoanalysis, Politics, and Society: What Remains Radical in Psychoanalysis?

Frosh

2018

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis

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This chapter is concerned with the contribution that psychoanalysis has made to progressive political thought. It argues that despite, alongside, or in tension with the more conservative, psychologically ‘reductive’ side of psychoanalytic politics, there is a very challenging radical strand. On the whole, once the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis was destroyed by Nazism, it found its strongholds outside the main psychoanalytic movement, for example in the works of philosophers and social theorists from Herbert Marcuse to Judith Butler; and this is one of the issues that needs to be addressed as part of the question of whether this radicalism is truly ‘psychoanalytic’. Starting with Freud, and taking seriously the contribution of social theorists influenced by Klein and Lacan, the chapter suggests that psychoanalysis offers a vocabulary for, and orientation towards, subjectivity that is not otherwise highly developed in political thought.

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“…One is the use of cultural elements for a complex narrativization function, as shown earlier; in the transition to parenthood, historical novels, quasi-mythological narratives, the Bible, classic movies such as family sagas, were used for such functions. They allow the expression and the symbolization of representations and emotions, and might have a transformative effect on them (Segal, 1991;Vygotsky, 1928Vygotsky, /1971. Another developmental use is given by a metaphorization function.…”

Section: Symbolic Competencies and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These elementary mental movements of containing and reflectivity constitute what has been called a 'mentalization' ability (Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002), and seems to designate phenomena of micro-semiotic regulations of affects (Valsiner, 2001). But then, if one can thus enter a world of imagination, a third set of operations is needed to link a symbolic reality, imaginary worlds or worlds of 'what-ifs', with a given real one (Segal, 1991)-which includes analogic or metaphoric abilities, knowledge transfer, and so on (Gardner & Wolf, 1983;Marton & Säljö, 1997;Salomon, 1979). Fourth, these links between a given 'fictional' world and one's own experience in the real world can be experienced in an unaware way, can be acknowledged by a person, can be looked for, or can even be searched for with expertise regarding what element might be useful in what situation.…”

Section: Symbolic Competencies and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic Competencies for Developmental Transitions: the Case of the Choice of First Names

Zittoun

2004

Culture & Psychology

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Human life consists of stability interspersed with ruptures. Transitions that follow such ruptures, offer a window on processes of change at the level of skill acquisition, identities, but also meaning construction. The article explores various uses of cultural elements such as books, movies or religious baggage as symbolic resources for such psychological development. It introduces the notion of interiority to have access to the work of these symbolic resources on emotions. Such uses of symbolic resources are examined through a study of the procedure of choosing first names during the transition to parenthood. The notion of symbolic competencies, as the abilities to use cultural elements as resources for thinking, action and development, is proposed to account for interpersonal differences and is discussed.

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Dream, Phantasy and Art

Cited by 45 publications

References 0 publications

The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part II): A Psychoanalytic Model for Conceptualising and Working with Bewitchment Experiences

The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part II): A Psychoanalytic Model for Conceptualising and Working with Bewitchment Experiences

Psychoanalysis, Politics, and Society: What Remains Radical in Psychoanalysis?

Symbolic Competencies for Developmental Transitions: the Case of the Choice of First Names

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