Psychotic Recognizing and the Process of Primary Elaboration

Learning how to pretend: a distinction between intent and pretence observed in the treatment of a borderline psychotic boy

“…Alice here illustrates the normal process of primary elaboration, wherein the primaryprocess characteristics of dream logic invade secondary process functioning. The concept of primary elaboration has been more fully discussed elsewhere (Wax, 1972). In the excerpt above, Alice's creator, Charles Dodgson, further complicates the narrative in a most delightful fashion by suggesting that the kitten pretends to ignore Alice.…”