Notes towards a psychoanalytic understanding of the couple relationship

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley P Ruszczynski
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Jill Savege Scharff

The psychoanalytic literature deals with parenthood as a developmental stage but barely addresses the couple's preconception of fertility intentions. The author reviews the available literature from social research and psychoanalytic writing. Working with a couple over family of origin conflicts, she uncovers the hidden conflict over the wish to have or not have a child, reveals unconscious fantasies about the potential child, and deals with conflict in the otherwise compatible couple relationship itself. The author offers this clinical vignette to extend psychoanalytic understanding of the unconscious fantasies involved. She concludes with a discussion of transference towards the couple therapist as an infection to be avoided, an annoying parent to speed away from, and a disturbing child about whom the couple was ambivalent.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-86
Author(s):  
Christopher Clulow

Psychoanalytic understanding of the human predicament pays more attention to developmental experiences within families of origin, of whatever form, than to the communities in which they grow up. Recent critiques of attachment theory draw attention to cultural factors that question measures of attachment security based on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) family assumptions, and emphasise instead the significance of trust for individual and community well-being. Music forms part of the communications web in all societies, and arguably precedes language in connecting and separating people. This exploratory contribution will consider the role music, and jazz in particular, can play in communication, considering both its connective and disruptive potential within families and communities. Using clinical illustration, it will consider jazz as a metaphor for couple psychoanalysis.


Author(s):  
Richard Bates

AbstractFrançoise Dolto (1908-88) was a prominent French cultural figure thanks to her practice of dispensing psychoanalytically-informed child-rearing advice via the radio. From 1976 to 1978, on her show Lorsque l’enfant paraît, she responded to thousands of letters sent in by listeners requesting help with parenting problems and personal questions of a psychological nature. The article explores Dolto’s cultural position as a child psychoanalyst – understood in the 1960s and 1970s as a radical profession – but from a conservative, Catholic background. It then examines a sample of the letters sent in to her show, analysing the demographics of the correspondents and highlighting their most common concerns. Finally the article studies the relationship between psychoanalysis and trauma. It indicates the anxiety that a psychoanalytic understanding can cause, by reinforcing parents’ fears that childhood traumas are common, can be created unwittingly by parents, and lead to major psychological consequences in later life.


2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Consuelo Paterna ◽  
Carmen Martínez

Men's discourse about the paternal role is changing significantly. Despite the fact that men still perceive themselves as being responsible for the family's economical protection and the children's discipline, they face increasing demands for more involvement in childcare. From this perspective, this work analyzes the traditional view of gender roles and the perception of inequality in a sample of 95 employed fathers, as well as the various levels of satisfaction with other life roles and their relevance as a function of some gender and sociodemographic variables. The results show that men do not maintain a very traditional gender ideology with regard to role distribution and they still consider the paternal role and feelings as the most important thing in their lives. However, the couple relationship gives them the most satisfaction. Level of traditionalism and age were the two significant predicting variables of perception of inequality of men and women.


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