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Nancy Kulish

Publications and source records attributed to Nancy Kulish.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

The femininization of the female oedipal complex, Part II: Aggression reconsidered.

This paper examines and explores the manifestations of aggressive impulses in the so-called female oedipal complex. The authors describe how competitive aggression on the part of young girls, seemingly missing in children's stories and myths, is unconsciously inhibited, disguised, or externalized. They report similar phenomena in women patients involved in triangular conflicts, and present a selected review of the literature on the inhibition of aggression within the female triangular situation. Stressing dynamic patterns in the object relationships in the female triangular situation, the authors offer a psychological explanation for this inhibition. They present clinical material to demonstrate how overt murderous and competitive aggression toward the mother appears after considerable analytic work. They conclude that girls and women frequently relinquish a sense of agency over both aggression and sexuality in dealing with triangular conflicts, to preserve a safe relationship with their mothers.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Countertransference and the female triangular situation.

This paper represents an attempt toward reconciling contemporary changes in psychoanalytic understandings of female development, particularly in respect to separation issues, with their clinical applications to female patients. Psychoanalytic thinking typically has categorized separation conflicts as pre-oedipal, but the authors suggest that these are an integral part of the triangular situation of the girl. The authors argue that an allegiance to erroneous theory and/or individual blind spots have led to the infantilization, pre-oedipalization or cultural stereotyping of females, which constrains the effectiveness of their analyses. The authors present a selected review of the literature on gender-based countertransference biases in both male and female analysts, with reference to female 'oedipal' material. Analytic case material of two women is presented which demonstrates how theoretical misperceptions and countertransferences to triangular separation conflicts can produce an impediment to progression in analysis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Conflicted gender. The case of a woman who believed she was half male and half female.

The author presents the case of a middle-aged woman who had a fantasy that she was half male and half female, which did not emerge until she was well into her analysis. Initially, the analytic work focused on issues of attachment and trust, as the patient was mute and despairing, and unable to verbalize affects or put together a coherent story of her life. Gradually over the course of her analysis, a history of severe emotional neglect and trauma was pieced together--she had been left at the hospital as a newborn because her mother had not wanted a girl. It was only after the establishment of more comfortable and stable connection to the analyst that the conflicts around gender and the boy/girl fantasy came into focus. Two masturbation fantasies, a primitive, non-visualized sensation of sexual insatiability with abdominal throbbing, and a more traditional beating fantasy were also analyzed. The fantasy of being both male and female, which was conscious since childhood, was both a result of and a solution to more basic issues. It was a sign of problems in integration of internal parental identifications, a shaky maternal attachment, and difficulties in dealing with affect. The fantasy reflected a profound sense of being unwanted and unloved and became a narcissistic solution for these troubling feelings. The author details the interplay of constitutional, familial, and psychological factors that contributed to this solution. Because issues of gender were highlighted in this case, their complex relationship with other underlying factors could be appreciated.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Female sexuality. The pleasure of secrets and the secret of pleasure.

Why are secrets so fascinating and pleasurable, especially for little girls? A review of the psychoanalytic literature suggests that the ability to keep a secret represents an important developmental step. This paper proposes that secrets are integral features of female sexuality and that the sharing of secrets is important in how females relate to each other throughout development. It examines the role of sharing secrets in the psychoanalytic process and presents case material of female patients who cherished secrets and for whom the novel The Secret Garden was a favorite during childhood.

Adolescent↗