Anna Ornstein

The Structure and Function of Unconscious Fantasy in the Psychoanalytic Treatment Process

We have surveyed the history of the concept of unconscious fantasy, from its inception in Freuds theorizing to the transformation of its structure and function in the late 1960s. The demands of clinical practice, the increasing focus on the nature of the analytic relation and the increasing attention to patients actual experiences in infancy and childhood contributed to the waning of reconstruction of the core-unconscious fantasy (the Oedipus complex) in the treatment process. Drastic changes in the concept occurred from the 1970s to the present, beginning with Kohuts reformulation of psychoanalysis, followed by contributions of intersubjectivity theorists, relational psychoanalysts and the Boston Study Groups innovative ideas. In the changes referred to in this article, Kohuts shift from drive-based unconscious fantasies to affective, lived, experience-based fantasies are the most significant ones. The introduction of the selfobject transferences confirmed the importance of our earlier finding (Ornstein and Ornstein, 1992) that patients enter into analysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a set of curative fantasies. With excerpts of two analyses we illustrated how the recognition of the curative fantasy, which embodies the patients hopes and expectations (the search for a new beginning) may promote the analytic process.

CONFLICT IN CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL WORK: A SELF PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The authors review the history of controversy regarding conflict versus deficit. They suggest that conflict, when conceptualized within the theory of self psychology, may arise in one of two ways, either: (1) along with deficit when caregivers are unable to provide developmentally needed selfobject functions, and, at the same time, these needed caregivers are also feared; these conflicts are unconscious and potentially pathogenic. Or: (2) conflicts may appear secondary to deficit. Such conflicts also require the analysis of selfobject transferences that have arisen on the basis of the underlying deficit. A clinical example demonstrates that deficit related to the oedipal phase may give rise to oedipal-selfobject transferences, requiring their working through for a successful termination.

The function of theory in psychoanalysis: a self psychological perspective.

Although aware of a lack of consensus in the literature about the exact nature of the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and the clinical process, the authors contend that the analyst’s theory(ies) are inextricably intertwined with the treatment process. Two clinical case examples are presented to illustrate this and to highlight the authors’ discussion of the empathic mode of listening and its role in self psychology, as well as the selfobject transferences and the interpretive process in self psychology.

Some distinguishing features of Heinz Kohut's self psychology

At this time in the evolution of the various psychoanalytic theories, we can make only some general comments regarding the direction that psychoanalytic self psychology may take in the future. We can, with greater certainty, however, predict the enduring importance of two of its basic concepts: 1) the significance of empathy as a mode of observation will endure; and 2) the developmental and clinical conception of the selfobject will remain central to self psychology for the foreseeable future. Selfobject experiences have been recognized as crucial in all aspects of mental life: in development, in the clinical situation, and in everyday life throughout the lifespan.

The Transformation of Guilt into a Sense of Responsibility: Discussion of Articles by Roger Frie and Martin Gossmann

The joint discussion of Roger Frie’s “From Memorials to Bomb Shelters” and Martin Gossmann’s “Memento Auschwitz: Growing Up in Post-War Germany” examines some of the intergenerational psychological issues related to the atrocities committed during the Third Reich: the fate of autobiographical and collective memories as these are transmitted from generation to generation and the moral imperative to remember the Holocaust and the emotional obstacles that stand in its way. The discussion also includes the transformation of guilt into a sense of responsibility that can potentially lead to redeeming actions.