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G S Reed

Publications and source records attributed to G S Reed.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The transference neurosis in Freud's writings.

This paper reviews the evolution of the concept of transference neurosis in Freud's writings. It suggests that the language in which the concept of the transference neurosis is originally expressed by Freud includes an idea of the analyst as aggressively pursuing the analytic cure by waging a solitary battle against the patient's disease. With the representation of the death drive and the larger role accorded to sadism as its external manifestation in Freud's revised drive theory of 1920, the patient becomes the ally; resistance, in the sense of the conservative forces, not disease, in the sense of libidinal conflict, becomes the enemy. It is thus difficult to speak of a transference neurosis in the circumscribed way Freud originally meant it, and he ceased to use the term after 1926 rather than redefine it to fit his broader perspective. In this broader perspective, relative resolution of conflict replaced radical liberation of the patient from disease. That Freud did not redefine the term does not imply that he discarded it, or that we necessarily should. This paper suggests that Freud implied a functional distinction between transference as transforming agent and transference neurosis as result of that transformation. That distinction defines psychoanalytic cure in terms of the understanding of a symbolic transformation which is, through the transference neurosis, reexperienced as part of the psychoanalytic process.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1990

A reconsideration of the concept of transference neurosis.

This paper presents clinical examples given by three analysts in response to an inquiry on the understanding of the term 'transference neurosis'. In view of differences and uncertainties uncovered in the course of the inquiry, it proposes that the term be reserved for the interrelated unfolding and understanding of increasingly specific transferences and their related unconscious fantasy/memory complexes through the psychoanalytic process. Specific transferences are distinguished from characterological transferences and are defined as new compromise formations involving the analyst as object entwined with pre-existing object representations from childhood and adolescence including those that comprise the nuclear infantile neurosis. The transference neurosis frequently makes its appearance silently, in the form of unnoticed enactments involving the analytic interaction so that it is advisable not to consider the patient's conscious awareness of feelings for the analyst as part of the definitional criteria.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Rules of clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology: a comparison.

This paper compares the rules that govern clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology. The rules of understanding in the two systems are fundamentally different. Self psychology interprets causes and relies on interpretive rules similar to those used in allegory. Classical psychoanalysis investigates reasons and seeks to uncover the patient's own interpretive system. Self psychology refinds its own theory in the relation between elements disguised in the manifest content of patients' productions. Classical psychoanalysis seeks to open up manifest content. Where self psychology reiterates theory in its interpretations, classical interpretations move away from theoretical generalizations toward specific fantasy-memory constellations. Theory, in self psychology, organizes directly the content of interpretations; theory in classical psychoanalysis organizes a technique of exploration and furnishes general sequences according to which data can be understood. This paper also suggests that the differences in the rules of clinical understanding have potential consequences for psychoanalysis which manifest themselves in psychoanalytic training and in the capacity for self-analysis.

Dreams↗
PubMed1985

Psychoanalysis, psychoanalysis appropriated, psychoanalysis applied.

The assumptions which predominate in the reading of psychoanalytic theory differ from those involved in listening to the patient in the psychoanalytic process. A weakness of much applied psychoanalysis is that these two sets of assumptions are confused and theoretical certainty is substituted for clinical exploration. This difference in assumptions is illustrated by the different assumptions about the signifier in two poems. In Freud's work on Leonardo, both attitudes toward the signifier are present, but the clinical aspect is located in Freud's method, not in his historical construction. The problems of maintaining a similar clinical stance in applied psychoanalysis are explored, and Freud's tendency toward historical certainty is speculatively considered as an instance of the parallelism phenomenon.

Creativity↗