| September 29th 2008.
Branimir Stojanović:
THE PATIENT THINKS!
The Freudian moment – Christopher Bollas
“Exception” was my first association, following the reading of Christopher Bollas’s book The Freudian Moment. The very title of the book (The Freudian
Moment) opens a debate with the psychoanalytic community’s dominant discourse, the discourse that legitimizes itself through the attitude that the Freudian
oeuvre is psychoanalysis’s distant ancestor, or that through a century of its development, psychoanalysis deserted or completely modified the set of ideas of its founder. “Quite on the contrary,” claims Bollas, “this is the Freudian moment, and that moment already lasts for a hundred years.” Hence, Bollas opens a debate, and that is the first great quality of this book, a debate not just with naive historicism, an epistemological belief, to which this dominant discourse owes its arguments, but also with the contemporary theoretical naïveté of psychoanalysis.
Contrary to the belief that Freud is out of date and that psychoanalysis has advanced, Bollas claims that psychoanalysis has to begin its return to the future,
with Freud. Paradoxically, it seems almost as if the psychoanalysts are the only ones who do not know that Freud is our contemporary. Bollas’s return to Freud is authentically his own, and does not rely to Lacan’s 1950s return to Freud. As a matter of fact, Bollas’s return is a return to two great topics of Freud’s theory: the theory of the unconscious, and the theory of free associations — two key concepts of Freud’s meta-psychological and technical doctrine.
Bollas’s common term for both of these topics is theory of unconscious thinking, which is, in the time that Bollas calls “theocracy of the conscious,” great news for the psychoanalysis itself. Moreover, the Freudian intellectual revolution, which is still in effect today, is based on the great discovery that Bollas re-actualizes, the discovery that thinking is inaccessible to its own producer, in other words, the thought is unconscious, the thought is the product of the unconscious. What is even today shocking in this Freud’s idea, and that what makes it a complete novelty with regard to philosophical belief that thinking is worth of its name, appears to be the act of self-awareness, a mystical operation through which the conscious can cover and represent itself in a transparent way.
In other words, Freud questioned philosophy’s great dream, that the act of thinking could cover the thinking only as an object. It is interesting to note that philosophy that emancipated itself from this naive belief relies on Freud, and considers him its contemporary.
Bollas’s great discovery, and the main subject of the book The Freudian Moment, is the discovery of the concept of the unconscious, invented by Freud, but then pushed aside, the unconscious that is not unconscious of suppression, but the unconscious that actually produces, anticipates, reacts immediately, and thinks. For Bollas, the indicator of the suppressed concept of the unconscious is the process of free associations and producing thoughts in dreams. For Bollas, free associations and dreaming are the most far-reaching forms of thinking, the most sophisticated forms of thinking, produced by another type of the
unconscious; not an unconscious of the repressed drive, but an actual unconscious which is interactive, unaware of the actual process/ thinking.
The consequences of this discovery are both theoretical, and practical-technical. In other words, Bollas returns in grand style the psychoanalysts’ neutrality, which is for him the main condition for opening of free space for the production of unconscious thoughts. When writing of psychoanalysts’ neutrality, Bollas
primarily means the complete erasure of analysts as someone leading the process, but instead someone who opens up his/her unconscious for the communication with the patient’s unconscious.
The transfer and countertransfer are for him just varieties of unconscious thinking. Through this, he opens a debate with two actual and dominant technical
doctrines: a transfer one and an countertransfer one, which he deems to be disturbing factors for the process of free associations. That is to say, if we return to the relationship between philosophy and psychoanalysis, paradoxically, these two techniques seem to renew a naive belief of pre-Freudian philosophy, almost as if they themselves believe in philosophy’s dream, that conscious thinking is possible.
Bollas believes that re-discovery of the position of analysts’ absolute neutrality is the way to preserve psychoanalysis as a unique therapeutical procedure.What he really cares about is expressed in an interesting axiom: The patient thinks. By its consequences, this axiom is homologous to what Freud said, and we frequently forget: psychoanalysis was invented by Anna O., that is to say, psychoanalysis was invented by patients. As psychoanalysts, we are here, more or less, just to note that discovery.
May 26th 2008.
Damir Arsenijević
POLITICAL CRITIQUE OF CULTURE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: A GENDERED PERSPECTIVE
This text discusses the possibility of a political critique of culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina by locating the political subject that should be constructed in order to articulate such a critique in the voids remaining following unsuccessful re-associations of mortal remains from mass graves from the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Exploring the examples from cultural production, primarily literary production, after 1995, the paper focuses on discussing the means of enacting potential emancipatory political gestures.
On May, 22nd 2008. Svetlana Virijević-Mudrić gave her clinical presentatiuon to the members of BPS.
On April, 17th 2008. Ivanka Jovanović-Dunjić gave a lecture on "The Development of Freud's Psychopathological Concepts (with a short critical view)" followed by very vivid discussion at the regular meeting of BPS and candidates. According to the importance of this topic, it was suggested to continue this discussion in the next cyclus of lectures.
April 27th 2008: Casuistic presentation by Mr. Slavko Mačkić, an analyst, took place. It provoced abundant discussion, stimulated associations, rose a number of issues and enabled all those present with still another very rich clinical experience.
March 22nd 2008: Clinical workshop for 34 participants. It was an opportunity to hear nine clinical cases, under the supervision of BPS training analysts. General opinion was that the workshop was perfectly organized, that presentations were exceptionally well made, discussion fruitful, expert and well-intended, and that the whole group has significantly matured regarding group dynamics. Suggestions rose once again for such workshops to be organized at least twice every year.
February 28th 2008: Within regular activities of the Belgrade Psychoanalytic Society (BPS), Mr. Vlada Jović presented a lecture on „Abuse of Historic Myths“. The lecture was very interested and intriguing, and brought up a lively discussion of the members and candidates of BPS.
February 18th 2008.
Aleksandar Bošković
MYTH — ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
The lecture provides a brief overview of the anthropological theories on myth, beginning with the relationship of myths and ritual (William Robertson Smith), through different functionalist theories (Bronislaw Malinowski and Sir Edmund Leach), all the way to structuralism (Claude Lévi-Strauss). A special attention will be devoted to the political aspects of the uses of myth (myth as ideology), as well as to the possibilities of its interpretation as keys for understanding a “human nature.”
Danijela Galović – book review:
Ronald Britton:
„Sex, Death and Superego”
In this book Ronald Britton reevaluates different psychoanalytical phenomena on the basis of everyday clinical experience. The book consists of three parts that cover relations between sex and death, relations between ego and superego and, in the last one, concept of narcissism. Starting with the analysis of the cases of hysteria that marked the earliest days of psychoanalysis, he puts focus on specific union of sex and death in hysteria, defensive role of erotization as a performance of projective identification and specificities of death wish in those cases. In dealing with female castration complex, Britton sees it as a pathological instead of developmental phenomenon.
Speaking about different »solutions« for preserving object love combined with destruction and aversion to difference, he stresses, at the same time, the importance of using countertransference for differential diagnosis of disorders within which those solutions occur and, hence, divides them in two groups – hysterias on one hand, and narcissistic disorders on the other. In the second part of this book special focus has been put on relations between ego and superego and, in accordance to that, on defining specific goal of psychoanalytical treatment – »where superego was ego shall be«, achieved through emancipation of the ego from the superego by taking over the third position, position of self-observation, and forming a judgment of his own internal critic. In his previously published books Britton was writing about fear of chaos in borderline patients, while in this book he further develops this idea through explanation of Bion's concept of »ego-destructive superego« which occupies the third position in triangular space.
The third part of the book, dealing with narcissism, is based on the idea that narcissistic disorders can appear as a defensive organization to protect the individual from a destructive superego or from antipathy to others. An important characteristic of this group of disorders is the incapacity to function in an analytic situation in the usual way due to the inability to form ordinary transference relationship. In none of these cases is the analyst experienced as both significant and separate. Based on clinical experience (repeated transference/countertransference experience) with these disorders, Britton divides these patients in three groups: borderline thinskinned), schizoid (thick-skinned) and as-if (false self) patients. The differentiation is based not on symptoms but on the reaction to sharing mental and physical space: in borderlines – the analyst’s psychic space is colonized by the patient, in schizoid – the analyst is excluded from the patient’s mental space, while false-self patients occupy the physical space while being in another mental domain – which leads the analyst to experience the patient as unreal.
Danijela Galović
Jasmina Vrbaški – book review:
Louis Cozolino: „The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Social Brain Development”
... It is the power of being with others that shapes our
brains.
Louis Cozolino represents through his writings the innovative and insightful exploration of the theory of interpersonal neurobiology, explaining that the brain is a social organ built through experience. In this book he explains how our brains develop in the context of our relationships, how that development can become disordered and how healing interactions can trigger changes in our brains as well as heal. The book examines topics such as neural plasticity, mirror neurons and biology of attachment. It raises questions like: do parents and therapists activate neuroplastic processes to foster learning and change, what are the effects of isolation, stress and trauma on the brain and what are the processes through which relationships both create and cure mental illness. The first examination is in the context of the brain as a social creation, meaning that humans survive because initially we have others such as the mother as our primary environment, which guides and protects us; he refers to an involving brain, which is not born with any real maturity, and thus takes time to evolve into an independent self. It also covers basic ideas on neural systems and the social changes in that most difficult time for neural development, adolescence; he relates this to the changes in social interaction that present high demands for teenagers.
It also discusses social and emotional laterality, explaining that left hemisphere leans more toward approach, social emotions and positive affect, and the right hemisphere toward bonding, avoidance, self awareness, negative affect, facial expression and recognition. Another interesting point is the examination of the primal sources of attachment that include smells, pheromones, sounds...and focusing on cingular cortex and its role in monitoring interpersonal interactions. There is also a study of disorders of the brain from an interpersonal social perspective, which begins with impact of prenatal stress and maternal depression. It also discusses the psychopathic and antisocial brain with the focus on the prefrontal cortex. He also talks about love and chemical modulators (neurotransmitters) in the sense that relationships come to regulate us in the same way that biological rewards did earlier on. In the end, he writes about healing relationships, where love activates the need for social engagement, reward systems and capacity to trust.
Cozolino illustrates all his points of view with numerous vignettes.
Jasmina Vrbaški
February 23rd, 2008.
Belgrade Psyhoanalytical Society held Exeptional Assembly
October 26th, 2007.
Belgrade Psychoanalytical Society had press conference at Media Press Center in Belgrade for informing of getting the new status of IPA's Component Society
October 7th, 2007.
Belgrade Psychoanalytical Society held Annual and Election Assembly
May 17th – 20th 2007.
Analysts and candidates, as well as moderators and participants took part with their own papers in the proceedings of the First Congress of the Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Related Professions, held at Zlatibor and organized by Vojislav Curcic, training analyst of the Society. Simposium named «Child and adolescent psychoanalysis/psychotherapy» was moderated by Biljana Pirgic, candidate of the Society. Two training analysts took part in the panel discussion (Vojislav Ćurčić, Vesna Brzev-Ćurčić), as well as two analysts (Jasminka Šuljagić-Kostić, Svetlana Vinjević-Mudrić) and two candidates of the Society (Biljana Pirgić, Nina Popadić). This simposium was very well attended and very well rated.
April 26th 2007.
Within the framework of regular professional meetings of the Society, the first part of the Kernberg's interview with a borderline patient was screened. The role of the patient in this movie was played by a professional actor.
April 23rd 2007.
Library evening with the following topics:
Book review
by Jasminka Šuljagić
Quinidoz, J. M.: Reading Freud: A Chronological Exploration of Freud’s Writings.
Perelberg, R.J.: Freud: A Modern Reader.
Paper review
by Nina Popadić
Ogden, T. H.: This art of psychoanalysis: Dreaming undreamt dreams and interrupted cries.
Report from a psychoanalytical gathering
by Tijana Miladinović and Jasminka Vrbaški
EPF Conference in Barcelona
March 29th – April 1st 2007.
Following the invitation of the Spanish Psychoanalytic Society in Barcelona, the XXth Conference of the European Psychoanalytic Federation, named »Time, Timelessness« was held in Barcelona. Four training analysts of the Belgrade Psychoanalytic (Provisional) Society (Tamara Štajner-Popović, Aleksandar Vučo, Vojislav Ćurčić, Vesna Brzev-Ćurčić) participated, as well as three analysts (Tatjana Vukosavljević-Gvozden, Vladimir Jović, Slavko Mačkić) and two candidates of the Society (Tijana Miladinović, Jasmina Vrbaški). Various groups and committies of the EPF held their meetings in the course of the Conference. |
