Is It a Problem for Us to Say, “It Is a Coincidence That the Patient Does Well”?

Togashi, Koichi

doi:10.1080/15551024.2014.883681

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…I have discussed the relationship between ways of experiencing contingency or coincidence and the relational trauma (Togashi and Kottler, 2013;Togashi, 2014). Contingency, which has a long history as a topic of philosophical discussion (Kuki, 1932(Kuki, , 1935Rorty, 1989), has a profound effect on a sense of being human.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Still later, however, as previously have pointed out (Togashi and Kottler, 2012b), Kohut, through a series of studies of twinship experience and transference, shifted his perspective from "the psychology of the self" to "the psychology of being human" (Togashi, 2012b(Togashi, , 2014Togashi and Kottler, 2012a, 2012b, 2013. Kohut originally saw twinship transference as a subtype of mirror transference, but then upgraded it into the third selfobject transference by defining it as "the need to experience the presence of essential alikeness" (1984, p. 194).…”

Section: Kohut's "Being Human" and Twinship Experiencementioning

confidence: 91%

“…It is only very recently that psychoanalysis has accepted that trauma has a profound impact on the human mind and tried to illustrate the subjective meaning of trauma. Self psychologists and intersubjective system theorists have developed "trauma-centered theories" (Stolorow, 2007;Brothers, 2008;Brandchaft, 2010;Kottler, 2012b, 2013;Togashi, 2014), that directly focus on the existential anguish coming from the lack of a sense of being human. These authors' discussions go beyond the illustration of pathological effects (such as dissociation, multiplicity of self, or symptoms of PTSD), to attempt to articulate a psychoanalytic process in which the traumatized patient is again able to organize a feeling of being human, and they show how a sense of twinship can evolve within a dyad Kottler, 2012b, 2013;Togashi, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A traumatized patient often describes not feeling human or feeling that they have lost a sense of being human in the relational context (Togashi, 2012b(Togashi, , 2014Togashi and Kottler, 2012a, 2012b, 2013. For example, a sexually abused female patient described herself as "a toilet bowl," having experienced herself as an object into which someone else's sexual impulses were disposed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Sense of “Being Human” and Twinship Experience

Togashi

2014

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology

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In this article, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which a person experiences himself or herself as being human, including what it means to be treated as human by others. This study consists of a review of the literature in clinical ethics and psychoanalysis, and the psycho-biographical research of Heinz Kohut, who sought the meaning of being human while in the grip of a ten year struggle with lymphoma. The study shows that, from a self psychological perspective, the sense of being human can be described as a psychological state in which a person feels an emotional tie with others and makes sense of temporal continuity in his or her existence. Through careful examination of Kohut's words and his life, I conclude that a sense of being human can be organized through sharing with the other about how the person was born, and how he has been with the other, through an authentic and honest relationship with others, or through a hope of passing on something significant to the next generation. I argue that these human processes serve to connect a person's subjective experience from the past with the present, from the present to the future, and to the experience of others in the present.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%