Psychoanalysis: the unknown profession.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F G Maleson.
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The term masochism was originally used in a narrow, specifically sexual sense (referring to perversions ), but has come to encompass for many analysts an exceedingly broad and variably determined range of clinical phenomena that bear no consistent relation to sexual excitement. In addition, these expanding clinical perspectives have long been entangled with Freud's shifting metapsychological constructions designed to ground masochism in instinctual theory. As a result, the term is used with little consistency and at varied levels of abstraction: loosely descriptive, dynamic, theoretical. It is not always explicit which meaning is intended or what inferences, if any, are meant to be drawn from the term. When used in its broadest sense, masochism may falsely suggest dynamic similarity between diverse phenomena, and is often ambiguous with respect to the presence or absence of underlying erotic or perverse excitement. In the clinical situation, the categorization of material as masochistic may evoke an associated set of genetic, dynamic, or theoretical ideas which may alter the perception, ordering, and interpretation of clinical data. Particularly conducive to this subtle steering process are the enduring influence of the early concept of feminine masochism and the related concept of sadistic and masochistic paired opposite component sexual instincts--a theoretical, physicalistic , linear concept incompatible with the clinical model of overdetermination and multiple function. This paper includes a review of the terminological and conceptual history of masochism, briefly touches on the parallel history of sadism , and offers some provisional definitional solutions.
Religious cultism defies easy generalizations. Motivating forces behind cult membership range from brainwashing-like processes to fulfillment of severe predisposing psychopathological needs; they operate to varying degrees in different individuals. Thus, the formulation of a rational and consistent therapeutic strategy may be difficult, particularly for the clinician inexperienced in this area. Treatment may be further complicated by parental pressures to adopt a deprogramming therapy model, which risks the clinician's independence, objectivity, and effectiveness. Two contrasting case histories highlight these and other evaluation and treatment dilemmas.
The authors discuss how stress influences the candidate's capacity to effectively prepare for and fully demonstrate his or her abilities in the oral examination in psychiatry given by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. They highlight subtle misconceptions about examiner priorities, attitudes, and evaluation methods and note common errors that reflect both anxiety and these misconceptions. They offer some advice and information to aid the candidate in coping with these examination difficulties.