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PubMed1993

The perverse attitude toward reality.

Freud's (1940a) tentative distinction between the defensive maneuvers in neurosis and those in perversion can be extended to good clinical effect. In general, neurotic defenses may be thought of as directed against wishes, whereas perverse defenses are directed against perceived reality. It is suggested that the perverse approach to reality is not limited to frank sexual perversions; it defines a class of operations that involve taking certain liberties with reality. Clinical material is used to demonstrate the perverse attitude and some of its implications for technique. The role of the superego is considered.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Female perversion: scenes and strategies in analysis and culture.

The author presents some ideas derived from observation in analysis about differing positions of Freud and Jung on perversion and about probable differences in perverse structural elements of women in contrast to men. In general perversion is understood as a defence of the self; in particular with women it is seen as a defensive way of achieving a false wholeness, a pseudo-androgyny. A case study describes the unfolding of a perverted transference. The importance of reaching the analyst and being understood by the analyst through projective identification is stressed. Quite often a sexually abusing mother seems to play an important role in generating female perversion; the implications in analysis are discussed as well as some ideas about culture and gender.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Cynicism: its function in the perversions.

The author begins by noting the historical importance of perversion in the development of psychoanalysis and its potential for inspiring new ideas. Observing that cynicism is a component of perversion, he discusses some psychoanalytic views of the cynic and the role of the cynical attitude in politics. After a brief reference to the philosophy of the ancient Cynics and to irony, which he distinguishes from cynicism proper, he considers the clinical and theoretical aspects of cynicism and perversion in terms of representation/affect and hallucination/sensual pleasure. The connections with fetishim in particular are explored. The cynic is stated to possess an ethic of the negative, in which beauty is trampled underfoot by linguistic acts permeated with the subject's internal void, and to use a sexual theory translated into ideology. Specific elements of the cynic's logic include, in the author's view, a vindication of the mother's phallus, scepticism about the possibility of a male identification in the patient's father, and premonitions of the inexorable return of the non-human. These points, as well as the radical differences between perversion and cynicism on the one hand and neurosis and psychosis on the other, are illustrated by a literary example and the case history of a frotteur.

Adult↗

PubMed1975

A fresh look at perverse behaviour.

A review of psychoanalytic thinking on perversions is offered and brought up to date with an outline of Kohut's concept of perversions representing sexualization of narcissistic configurations. An emphasis is made on the sexualization of the affects to underscore the structural defect in perverse behaviour. Broad constructions directed to the disavowal of feelings are considered most meaningful in analytic treatment of individuals suffering from sexual perversions.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

[Perversion or impossible compromise].

In this paper we comment our recent book about sexual perversion. This clinic entity is relatively little known, even though very frequent, because the word "perversion" is used in a discriminatory way. The international classifications treat about "paraphilies", but they do not take into account the personality of these patients. We will expose first a psychoanalytical conception of perversion and secondly by means of clinical cases present new forms of this pathology involving a fascination of the pervert toward death. Death and sexuality being inseparable in perversion.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Is there a 'female version' of perversion?].

UNLABELLED: There have been no convincing ideas to date explaining the far less frequent occurrence of perverse symptom formation in females compared to males. HYPOTHESIS: Unlike the intrapsychic mechanisms for self-esteem regulation in males as a basic component of perversion--extraphysical (compensational) culminating in an output of sexual impulses--a functional stabilisation of the female self concept seems more likely, if conflict drives were to be focussed on reproductive aspects and not on sexuality. It therefore seems--in linguistic analogy to perversion--more suitable to use a new expression: "reproversion". In addition to a theoretical explanation of the "reproversion" concept and one case history, a general survey describes the various clinical manifestations covering intensity, the egoproximity within the personality structure, the expressed form and meaning of the "reproverse" symptom formation as well as giving a view of the underlying personality disturbances. Finally, some theoretical reflections on ideological aspects point out the diverse judgement of perversion and "reproversion" in society today.

Female↗

PubMed2004

Could disease-modifying HIV vaccines cause population-level perversity?

Most current candidate HIV vaccines seem to produce little protection against infection, but reduce viral load and slow the decline in CD4 lymphocyte numbers. Such disease-modifying vaccines could potentially provide important population-level benefits by reducing transmission, but could possibly also increase transmission. We address the following question: could disease-modifying HIV vaccines cause population-level perversity (ie, increase epidemic severity)? By analysing a mathematical model and defining a new quantity-the fitness ratio-we show that disease-modifying vaccines that provide only a low degree of protection against infection and/or generate high fitness ratios will have a high probability of making the epidemic worse. However, we show that if disease-modifying vaccines cause a 1.5 log(10) reduction in viral load (or greater) then perversity cannot occur (assuming risk behaviour does not increase). Finally, we determine threshold surfaces for risk behaviour change that determine the boundary between beneficial and perverse outcomes; the threshold surfaces are determined by the fitness ratio, the proportion of the population that are "successfully vaccinated", and the degree of change of risk behaviour in unvaccinated infected individuals. We discuss the implications of our results for designing optimal vaccination control strategies.

AIDS Vaccines↗

PubMed1995

[Aurorism: clinical manifestation of a 'female analogy' of perversion].

UNLABELLED: There have been no convincing ideas to date explaining the far less frequent occurrence of perverse symptom formation in females compared to males. HYPOTHESIS: Unlike the intrapsychic mechanisms for self-esteem regulation in males as a basic component of perversion--extraphysically (compensatory) culminating in an output of sexual impulses--a functional stabilisation of the female self-concept seems more likely if conflict drives were to be focussed on reproductional aspects and not on sexuality. Hence, it seems--in linguistic analogy to perversion--more suitable to use a new expression: "reproversion". A case history of "aurorism" gives an example of a clinical manifestation in terms of "reprovese" symptom formation. A general survey describes the main points of view in regard to a clinically orientated subdivision, namely intensity, the ego-proximity in the personality structure and the own self-acceptance within the "reproverse" symptom formation as well as a view of the underlying personality disturbances.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

The perversions in analysis.

The perversions are initially defined as sexual behaviours which in our culture are generally regarded as corrupt, fearful, and forbidden. The effect of this attitude upon the way they are handled in analysis is considered, and the work of the late German psychoanalyst, Fritz Morgenthaler, is cited as presenting a way of integrating the perversions into analytic treatment. Two cases are cited from the literature which demonstrate both the validity of Morgenthaler's approach and the necessity of moving beyond it. Jungian psychological concepts provide the machinery for doing this. The combination of Morgenthaler's and Jung's ideas suggests a way of dealing with perversions in analysis, of which the author is currently making use in several cases, which are then summarised.

Fantasy↗

PubMed1978

Psychoanalytic study of an unusual perversion.

The psychoanalysis of a case of an unusual perversion demonstrated the historical determinants of the ritual. Drive and defense, bisexual disposition, and identifications were represented. At the beginning of the analysis the patient appeared to have borderline character traits; but as the analysis unfolded, an oedipal situation was revealed and character development occurred. The factors that determined the particular outcome for this patient, instead of homosexuality, or transsexualism, are discussed. In some cases of perversion, such as the one herein described, only psychoanalytic exploration can determine whether a level of personality structure and object relations had been reached that allows for the analysis of the perversion and a shift to heterosexuality and mature object relations.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

On trauma, perversion, and "multiple personality".

The role of perverse sexuality as an organizing influence in "multiple personality" is explored in this paper. Following a brief review of psychoanalytic thinking on sexual trauma and perversion, the author discusses his own views on dissociation and "multiple personality." A clinical case is then presented in which transsexualism, homosexuality, and sadomasochistic heterosexual practices were manifested during altered ego states. Analysis of the transference revealed the centrality of sadomasochism in this patient. It is hypothesized that various perverse structures may be formed within these seemingly autonomous, amnestic states, in order to contain anxiety and encapsulate the aggression which resulted from early psychic trauma. Issues relating to diagnosis, countertransference, reconstruction, and psychoanalytic technique are discussed also.

Adult↗

PubMed1975

[Process of perversion. Methodological and clinical study].

Studies in classical psychiatry and psychoanalysis have reduced perversions to pathological phenomena, by lessening the moral criterion progressively. The applying of a comprehensive method of study of acquired perversions incites to consider various levels of observation. Henceforth properties common to each of these levels appears permitting thus to isolate a general process of perversion. This process, which keeps undeniable links with mental pathology, must however be differentiated, for it is not necessarily to be assimilated or reduced to the latter. Besides, it entails notable consequences on the social and cultural level.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

A perversion named desire.

Inspired by the title of the work, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the author argues that desire and perversion are equivalent, based on the following. (1) The notion of infanatile sexuality as polymorphously perverse, and whose components constitute the 'core of our unconscious' and the ultimate 'matter' of unconscious desire. (2) The perspective of narcissism, which establishes desire, supported by the theory that maternity implants an illusion of completeness which culture promotes, despite the fact that such an ideal conflicts with the laws governing the foundation of culture. (3) The resulting forms of the oedipal complex and the castration complex, whether man or woman, imply a visible or unapparent violence with regard to the original 'call' of desire. (4) The traditional structures refer to the possibility of the mother imagining herself as completed by the child: the blocking of that illusion is associated with psychosis; the weakness of the desire, once established, demands, in the context of perversion, the presence of the figure of plenitude. Neurosis prefers its absence on the level of the apparent while insuring its permanence on the unconscious level.

Drama↗

PubMed1990

[Relations between intelligence and perversion. Small essay on ethics].

Excepted vegetarians, everybody let kill and may kill for self-defence. The killed-one suffers and dies. Perversity is to kill or to let suffer without personnal life's saving's necessity--for the treasure of the "perverse subject". We think that such subjects must not be considered as non responsible, excepted when they present a mental retardation. The sexual perversions are probably not the most dangerous: the most are subjects using a personnal high level of intelligence to domination and destruction, including in the sexual behaviours.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

A woman's attempt at a perverse solution and its failure.

The Programme Committee of the Montreal Congress asked the author to present a case of perversion connected with traumas. Rather than speak about erotization of the effects of the trauma (death or castration anxiety transformed into a source of pleasure) the author relates the first 18 months of analysis of a young woman whose important narcissistic trauma, the result of an inadequate early relationship with her mother, is camouflaged by an avidity for sexual excitations. The aim is to transform narcissistic pain which cannot be worked through into sexuality for which release is possible. Sexuality becomes a means of expressing feelings of hate, revenge and triumph over the primary object. The ensuing perverse solution--an attempt to slip into the primal scene by identification with the sadistic penis--does not succeed. The author advances certain hypotheses concerning the mother-daughter relationship which seem to explain this failure and to explain too the absence of a stable perverse organization in women. There follows a longing to return to the womb, in the shape of the fantasied destruction of the contents of the mother's belly, expressed as the fantasy of the end of the world, and which the author labels as 'the archaic matrix of the Oedipus complex'.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Self-subjugation--a neurotic perversion].

Unlike the more obvious forms of sexual perversion, self-subjugation (sexual dependency) is described by the author as having neurotic affiliations; further, she considers it to be related to masochistic perversion and to be potentially universal in its incidence. With reference to an actual case history. Adler illustrates the influence exerted by this perversion on transference and counter-transference processes. It transpires that sexual self-subjugation is associated with severely restricted perception and an impoverishment of the faculties of signification and symbolization, frequently appearing as a form of concretism that only acknowledges external realities. Sexual dependency acts as a defence against separation anxieties and against acceptance of the fact of needing help from another person.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

'Psychic reality' and reality testing in the analysis of perverse defences.

The author considers that a large group of clinical phenomena, of which perversion is the most dramatic example, is characterised by the effort to disavow troubling perceptions of reality. In these cases, patients are sometimes characterised--erroneously, in his view-as living in a different 'psychic reality'. He suggests that patients who use perverse defences are able to distinguish fantasy from reality, but they are motivated to refrain from testing cherished fantasies against their own view of reality. Such patients are difficult to work with, because they dismiss painful realities in treatment as readily as any other unwanted perceptions. The author suggests that treatment must focus on the various disavowals of the patient's own perceptions of reality, to the extent that the analyst must be prepared to be a spokesperson for reality. Treatment in which the patient's 'psychic reality' is viewed as a 'kind' of reality rather than addressed as a fantasy can thus collude with perverse defences.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Deviance as history: the future of perversion.

An approach to the social construction of concepts of sexual deviance and sexual perversions is considered. Deviance is conceptualized as a problem of control, perversion a problem of desire. These are seen as related to the larger sexual and nonsexual discursive practices of society and given to change as these contextualizing practices change. Changing conceptions regarding masturbation, homosexuality, pedophilia, and sadomasochism are examined.

Female↗