Elliot L. Jurist

Art and emotion in psychoanalysis

Freuds view that art satisfi es psychic needs has been taken to mean that art has its source in the unconscious and that it unifi es pleasure and reality. The author argues that there is a third point that Freud repeatedly emphasizes, which should not be overlooked, that art infl uences our emotions. The author examines what Freud means by this claim, in particular, his reading of Michelangelos Moses. Freuds focus here on emotions as fundamental to subjective experience, as subject to regulation and as potentially healthy forms of communication serves to supplement and even challenge what he says in his theory of affect. The author concludes by making inferences about a contemporary psychoanalytic theory of affects: that it ought to be inclusive of science (more receptive to neurobiology and less bound to Freud) as well as art (preserving the focus on subjective experience, especially the processing of complex emotions), which is illustrated with the concept of mentalized affectivity.

The Relevance of Psychoanalytic Ideas to Crisis Work

The therapeutic aim of crisis work typically has been to help the patient regain a pre-morbid state of functioning with an almost exclusive focus on the amelioration of immediate symptomatology. Drawing on our experience in a crisis team of a major metropolitan hospital with a large Hispanic and African-American population, we contend that crisis work ought not to focus myopically on symptom removal and must include, to the highest degree possible, an exploration of the multiple meanings contained in what is possibly a turning point in the patients life. Toward this aim, we describe three psychoanalytic principles believed to be particularly relevant to crisis work that have, nonetheless, traditionally been deemed inappropriate for this treatment modality. These principles are historicity, neutrality, and fantasy. Discussion of the principles are presented within the context of case material.

Mentalized affectivity: A new model and assessment of emotion regulation

Here we introduce a new assessment of emotion regulation called the Mentalized Affectivity Scale (MAS). A large online adult sample (N = 2,840) completed the 60-item MAS along with a battery of psychological measures. Results revealed a robust three-component structure underlying mentalized affectivity, which we labeled: Identifying emotions (the ability to identify emotions and to reflect on the factors that influence them); Processing emotions (the ability to modulate and distinguish complex emotions); and Expressing emotions (the tendency to express emotions outwardly or inwardly). Hierarchical modeling suggested that Processing emotions delineates from Identifying them, and Expressing emotions delineates from Processing them. We then showed how these components are associated with personality traits, well-being, trauma, and 18 different psychological disorders (including mood, neurological, and personality disorders). Notably, those with anxiety, mood, and personality disorders showed a profile of high Identifying and low Processing compared to controls. Further, results showed how mentalized affectivity scores varied across psychological treatment modalities and years spent in therapy. Taken together, the model of mentalized affectivity advances prior theory and research on emotion regulation and the MAS is a useful and reliable instrument that can be used in both clinical and non-clinical settings in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience.

Less Citation, Less Dissemination: The Case of French Psychoanalysis

We contribute to inquiries about the visibility of globalized psychoanalytic research in the digital era (cf. Stepansky 2009) by adopting a comparative perspective on a specific geographic area of historical importance for psychoanalysis: France. The largely digital globalized psychoanalytic research field relies on standard bibliometric measures of journal quality (Impact Factor, SJR, etc.), which depend on the number and type of academic cites received by a journal. Thus, citing shapes academic publishing space by differentially valuing its component journals. Conversely, not to cite practically means not to engage with the field. Hence, we took citedness rate as a proxy for global visibility. By drawing on an original database created by one of us, we determined the global citational visibility of French vs. Anglo- American psychoanalytic productions (respective global outreach); and we related it to a first look at French vs. Anglo-American citation practices (geographic breakdown of article cites). We found that, on a 15-year period, the global outreach (citedness rate) of French articles is ten times smaller than that of Anglo- American articles; and that French articles are cited in Anglo-American journals five times more than Anglo-American articles in French journals – which in turn don’t seem to cite their French peers very often. These specific French citation practices could be explained by the implicit modes of reference at work in clinical settings shaped by rich theoretical and clinical local legacies. We conclude by considering that this situation presents French psychoanalytic research with a formidable opportunity for increased citational visibility.

Freud, the Reluctant Philosopher

Freud, the Reluctant Philosopher by Alfred I. Tauber Princeton University Press , Princeton, NJ , 2010 ; 318 pp;

Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self

24.95 Many commentators offer a passing nod to Freud’s interest in philosophy, duti...