PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J E Gedo

Publications and source records attributed to J E Gedo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Reflections on metapsychology, theoretical coherence, hermeneutics, and biology.

Unable to correlate clinical findings with contemporary neurophysiology, Freud tried to anchor psychoanalysis within biology through a speculative metapsychology. Recently, epistemological objections have led to abandonment of his proposals qua scientific theory, although many still use them metaphorically. Others deny the need for any general theory of mental functions. Some theorists would espouse a hermeneutic basis for psychoanalysis, outside the boundaries of biology; they purport to confine their purview to mental contents but often use concepts based on metapsychological assumptions. Because the meanings of such contents are difficult to determine, their interpretation should be "constructed" in collaboration with analysands. By contrast, trained observers may reliably collect psychobiological data, accumulating knowledge of cognition, affectivity, communication, and the regulation of behavior--matters Freud encompassed via the economic and structural viewpoints. Hence analytic theory should be correlated with the findings of semiotics, cognitive psychology, and brain science. The hermeneutic focus on dynamics and genetics overlooks crucial data, such as the occurrence of trauma, leading to confusion about processes of pathogenesis, working through, and structural change. These and other biological phenomena (such as functional deficits and repetitive enactments) call for interventions beyond interpreting mental contents; improvement depends on learning better to process these contents. Change implies gradual establishment of alternative neural pathways; this does not automatically follow insight. Hence psychoanalysis must deal with intrapsychic phenomena beyond subjectivity. Intrapsychic conflicts represent efforts to ward off archaic mentality (primitive thought processing). Theories divorced from neurocognitive considerations encourage the theoretical fiction that analysands possess an "intact ego."

Biology↗
PubMed1996

[Psychobiology of motivation and organization of psychological aspects from the viewpoint of a hierarchical model].

Expressly leaving aside the classical Freudian theory of instinctual drives, itself largely based on obsolete biological models, and drawing on Lichtenberg's theory of motivation, Gedo outlines a five-stage motivation model encompassing both pre-programmed biological patterns and those acquired via learning and experience. With reference to brief examples from clinical practice the author describes how human behaviour can derive from various motives, thus making it essential to go beyond Freud's theory of libido. To do justice to the complexity of the phenomenon, he introduces a hierarchical schema taking account of the interaction between various motivations, the ways in which they may conflict and ultimately the ways in which they may best be reconciled.

Arousal↗
PubMed1995

Working through as metaphor and as a modality of treatment .

Although Freud encoded the idea of "working through" as a mere metaphor, it served the essential role of designating the necessary activities of analyst and analysand that go beyond the elucidation of mental contents through interpretation. From a neurobiological viewpoint, these processes involve the establishment of new neural networks through gradual habituation. From the vantage point of cognition, this necessarily slow process amounts to learning new skills in communication, the mastery of mounting unpleasure, and the expansion of "referential activity." These considerations imply that the crux of analytic work is changing those biological functions we call thought processes, thereby improving the person's ability to regulate behavior adaptively. Thus, the interpretation of mental content is a byproduct of the analytic work--a result of clearer thinking, facilitated by identifying areas of primitive mentation and assisting analysands to expand their repertory of psychological skills. Only these intrapsychic changes in functional capacity will enable patients to reach the insight necessary for continuous adaptation through self-inquiry.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1993

[Psychoanalytic interventions: reflections on form].

The question of the form of analytic interventions is an important one in the context of the theory of analytic techniques. On the basis of 4 brief case descriptions, the author demonstrates that certain therapeutic situations call for a choice of language which echoes that employed by the analysand, thus representing something akin to the latter's inner voice and attaining a graphic, "dramatic" quality which facilitates contact with the archaic sides of the patient and also identification of regressive tendencies and/or severe communicative defects. In other situations it may be necessary to employ neutral, "objective", scientific parlance, for example when the transference of the analysand is openly erotic or hostile in character.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Art alone endures.

Sigmund Freud, a passionate collector of antiquities, often treated these objects as animate beings. He described such blurring of boundaries between persons and things in the protagonist of W. Jensen's novella, Gradiva. Freud began collecting when his father died, but his unusual attitude toward artefacts was established much earlier, presumably as a consequence of repeated early disappointments in human caretakers. It is postulated that this adaptive maneuver was not simply a displacement of love and hate, but a turning away from vulnerability in relationships, toward attachments over which he might retain effective control. The Freud Collection is largely focused on Greco-Roman and Egyptian objects. Freud's profound interest in classical civilization was established in childhood; he was particularly concerned with the struggle between Aryan Rome and Semitic Carthage, a conflict in which he identified with both sides. This ambivalence reflected growing up within a marginal Jewish family in a Germanic environment. Commitment to classical ideals represented an optimal manner of bridging these contrasting worlds. Egyptian artefacts were, for Freud, links to the prehistory of the Jewish people; they also represent an era when maternal deities found their proper place in man's pantheon--an echo of Freud's prehistoric past.

Art↗
PubMed1991

Between prolixity and reductionism: psychoanalytic theory and Occam's razor.

To achieve a coherent theory of mental functioning, psychoanalysis cannot continue to explicate its observations through the "complementary" use of models based on differing premises. Moreover, the current profusion of plausible theories is unmanageably prolix; it is true, however, that theory must account for the complexity of constant shifts of developmental levels in terms of currently used adaptive devices. The simplest possible clinical theory will add to existing theories of motivation and development only the concepts needed to explicate reasons for these shifts in modes of functioning. Motivations are preprogrammed in the brain, so that theories of motivation must be congruent with neurophysiological knowledge. But the current status of a person's organismic motivations can only be inferred on the basis of the affective reactions they generate. The acquisition of symbolic capacities changes the infant from an organism automatically striving to fulfill a preprogrammed ground plan into a creature of self-awareness able to formulate wishes and to establish those priorities among them best called "self-organization." Thenceforth various wishes may come into conflict; the need to avoid the resultant discomfort gives rise to defensive operations. Defense may take the form of regression, although the latter is generally based on established deficits in the adaptive repertory--"apraxias." If developmental progress takes place, superseded modes of behavioral organization remain forever available for contingencies wherein they are advantageous. The theory presented meets the criteria of "Occam's razor"; it remains to be seen, however, whether it does so at the cost of some reductionism.

Child↗
PubMed1980

Reflections on some current controversies in psychoanalysis.

Recently published reports about completed analyses conducted by competent students with expert supervision permit us to compare two contrasting clinical traditions within psychoanalysis, that proposed by Heinz Kohut over the past decade and a conservative point of view sharply focused on elucidation of derivatives of the infantile neurosis. Analytic treatment based on each set of these theoretical assumptions will achieve valuable results--very different in kind in each instance. On the other hand, elucidation of oedipal conflicts without working through their developmental antecedents leaves patients with a variety of adaptive deficits and severe subjective discomforts. Kohut's clinical system produces important improvements in tension regulation and in reorganizing behavior in a more coherent manner, but it neglects a variety of other issues stemming from the less archaic sectors of the personality. Theoretical inferences derived from observations made in the course of such incomplete analyses fail to carry scientific conviction.

Female↗
PubMed1979

A psychoanalyst reports at mid-career.

The author states that the current pessimistic impression of the potential of psychoanalysis as a therapy is largely due to the inclusion of a disproportionate number of inexperienced analysts in reports on groups of practitioners. To correct this bias, he summarizes his own experience of two decades as a full-time psychoanalyst, describing his successful analyses as well as his unsuccessful attempts. He concludes that the satisfaction of commitment to a psychoanalytic career comes from the fact that it confirms the usefulness of the analytic method as a means to assist others to achieve personal growth and to illuminate human mental life.

Adaptation, Psychological↗