Love and melancholia in the analysis of women by women

Abstract

This paper suggests that in the analysis of women by women a melancholic core may be encountered at the centre of the transference/countertransference situation that is an expression of the loss of the primary maternal object that has never been mourned. The attachment to the primary, lost object may be preserved in a melancholic, invisible way, and the longing that it is connected to might only reach representation in the après coup of the analytic process. The links between this primary love, melancholia and the unrepresentable in the analysis of women will be explored. These analyses powerfully evoke the relationship to the somatic. The internalization of the body of the mother, which is a requirement in the development of a woman, can take on frightening, fragmented, part-object qualities. An example of a five times a week analysis is discussed.

Nachträglichkeit and après-coup in the psychological scientific literature: A systematic review and future perspectives.

“…Perelberg (2006, 2013, 2017) also dedicated various contributions to the concept of N/AC. Inspired by Freud’s distinction between a descriptive and a dynamic unconscious, Perelberg (2006) conceptualized the “descriptive” meaning of N/AC as different from a “dynamic” sense of the concept.…”

“…This is precisely the scope and goal of psychoanalysis, which is aimed at restoring the self by integrating its different dissociated parts, thus helping the person signify the mnestic traces of experience. This process resembles a "fractal" (Perelberg, 2017), a spiraling circle where what comes before receives ever-new meanings through acts of signification. In the analytic setting, temporality in the form of N/AC takes place every time the analyst contains the patient's projections (and other defense mechanisms) until transformation can take place in the form of N/AC.…”

“…Furthermore, according to Perelberg (2013), N/AC acts in both transference and countertransference in the analytic setting, where the lost object is constituted, thus allowing for the understanding of the unconscious language of dreams. Perelberg (2017) concluded that the analytic journey itself takes place in the form of N/AC, since it allows for overcoming the mere repetition compulsion and symbolically processing what has happened. Finally, the very process of "becoming an analyst" has been described in terms of N/AC, in that the "future perfect" tense of becoming is crucial to understanding the analyst's core desires, where N/AC is related to the deep structure of signification (Rogers, 2020).…”

“…The multidimensionality of this conceptualization of N/AC allowed Perelberg (2006Perelberg ( , p. 1204 to think of "a heptagon, rather than a linear perspective" (p. 1204) for understanding psychic temporality. N/AC also resembles a "fractal" (Perelberg, 2017), that is, a figure that constantly repeats itself like a mirror within a mirror. Sodré (2005) distinguished a "long-time-span" from a "short-timespan" form of N/AC.…”

“…Therefore, in the patient-analyst dyad, N/AC involves a process of developmental "disruption" and "recreation" of new ideas (Goldin, 2016). Perelberg (2006Perelberg ( , 2013Perelberg ( , 2017) also dedicated various contributions to the concept of N/AC. Inspired by Freud's distinction between a descriptive and a dynamic unconscious, Perelberg (2006) conceptualized the "descriptive" meaning of N/AC as different from a "dynamic" sense of the concept.…”