Biomedical subjects

D Birksted-Breen

Publications and source records attributed to D Birksted-Breen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Phallus, penis and mental space.

In this paper the author suggests that it is insufficient simply to make a distinction, as Laplanche & Pontalis do, between penis to denote the male organ in its bodily reality and phallus to describe the symbolic aspect. She suggests that there is an important symbolic function for which the word phallus is not appropriate and which she calls penis-as-link. She suggests that it is the introjection of the penis-as-link which has a structuring function and promotes mental space and thinking, in that it recognises the full oedipal situation including the parental relationship (and mental bisexuality). With clinical material she shows that the lack of internalisation of the penis-as-link leads to the search for the phallus as a fantasy and she illustrates the relationship between the internalisation of the penis-as-link and mental space and thinking.

Female↗

PubMed1996

Unconscious representation of femininity.

This paper sets out some of the main differences in approaches to the study of female sexuality, in particular in terms of the place of the body and biology in the construction of femininity. It illustrates a dual aspect of femininity in its reference to lack and in its more immediate bodily reality, suggesting that it is the interplay of these two which traces a woman's sexual position.

Female↗

PubMed1989

Working with anorexic patient.

I have discussed anorexia nervosa, in this paper, from the point of view of the anorexic's wish for and fear of fusion with her mother. I have described some of the feelings which are being defended against by this state of fusion, as well as some of the consequences, in particular the lack of a 'transitional space' and what this means for mental development. I illustrated this with the description of the first four years of the ongoing analysis of an anorexic patient, concluding that anorexia is an attempt to annihilate the very nature of human existence--inequality, progression through the life cycle, death.

Adult↗