To be or not to be three: a clinical narrative, an unanswered question

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.

A Focus on Male Homosexuality in Psychoanalytic Literature

Homosexuality has long been classified by many authors as a form of psychic immaturity. Today, it is widely accepted that homosexuality is not by definition a pathological development. In this article, I will focus on male homosexuality because I have been working with homosexual men for quite some time. In the first part, we will see that the Freudian and post-Freudian authors examined have largely emphasized the narcissistic failings of male homosexuals. In the Jungian corpus, which also serves as a reference, the homosexual is frequently considered as an individual whose relationship to his inner feminine is the result of a fusional identification with his mother. The abstract concepts of anima/animus have done little to remove homosexuality from the category of identity disorders. In the second part, I assume the possible existence of a homosexual instinct which everyone is confronted with and which would manifest itself in specific conditions. Certainly, no distinction between men and women should be made regarding my hypothesis of a homosexual instinct. However, from a scientific point of view, it has been impossible for me to prove that such an instinct really exists.

Retiring in the time of Covid and Donald Trump: the impact of the therapist's attachment style on maintaining connection over Zoom

The therapist's retirement is not widely written about in psychoanalytic literature. The physical requirements to do our job are minimal, hence it is often possible to keep working long into advanced age. Self-esteem and identity, fuelled by our work, are hard to disrupt. Pressure to maintain one's status as a working professional is also a factor. The therapist's attachment style may contribute to prolonging the decision to retire, if they have a significant need for the emotional and intellectual stimulation derived from the work. The experience of ending many long treatments over Zoom and the telephone, surrounded by the chaos of the pandemic and the political situation in the United States, was profoundly impacted by my attachment style, making it harder to locate myself in my patients' experience.

A Methodological Approach to Arabic Literature in the Following of Western Literature Theories

The concept of methodology, which we can meet with usûl or process, is the only element that provides the emergence of scientific research in a way that constitutes the starting point. It is certain that the concept of methodology, which has been the subject of discussion in both eastern and western works since ancient times, needs much more to be exam-ined in an age where we are confused in theory and practice as the Is-lamic world. The factor that reveals the subject of confusion is un-doubtedly the inevitable rise of the West and the reflection of this pro-gress on the world of social sciences / science in non-western societies. One other thing that should be the work of the modern era in the study of methodological problems encountered only said Turkey and the Ar-ab academia / non-Western literature is not in the world to emerge as a common problem in all of civilization. Academic books which are re-lated to the modern era in Arab Literature in Turkey this research, the-ses and studies in the article type of course is held primarily a screen-ing method and examined in terms of literary terminological; Then, the literary terms used in these studies, the methods of literary criticism based on, and the historical background that reveals these methods are tried to be given. Concepts such as Realism, Psychoanalytic Literature, Marxist Literary Theory - Socialist Realism, Romanticism, Nationalism and National Literature used in academic studies prepared in the field of Arabic Lit-erature will be discussed.

The Origins of the Leading Edge in Kohut's Work

This article traces the evolution of the concept of the leading edge in Kohut's work. The leading edge is defined as the growth-promoting dimension of the transference. The authors argue that although Kohut did not ever use the term explicitly in his writings—Marian Tolpin (2002), one of Kohut's gifted pupils, introduced the concept into the psychoanalytic literature in the form of the forward edge—the idea of the leading edge was already present in nascent form in Kohut's earliest papers and became ever more central as his psychology of the self evolved and the concept of the selfobject transference took center stage. Kohut, it is argued, could not fully develop the idea of working with the leading edge for fear of being accused of advocating for a corrective emotional experience in psychoanalytic treatment. However, in his posthumous empathy paper (1982) Kohut came as close as he could to endorsing the leading edge as pivotal in all psychoanalytic work.

Menopause and its Implications

It is a consequence that many women are unaware or are not able to identify the emotional consequences of menopause. It is likely that this ignorance must be associated with factors which, in fact, aggravate their physical and emotional state. Emotional manifestations are controversial and scarce in the psychoanalytic literature, a fact that motivates a deeper exploration of the theme. A literature review was carried out, examining books by authors of psychoanalysis that address this subject in a part of their work, among which we mention Freud and Laznik. This article contemplated some hypotheses about the psychic factors that could arise during the menopause phase. The influence of the Oedipus complex and the incestuous ghosts that may appear in some women during this period was discussed, in addition to the question of women facing their finitude. It also raised the importance of the look of another on a woman who experiences menopause and how it can be restorative and fundamental for her narcissism. It should be noted that the menopause process will take place in a singular way according to each experience and with the different ways each woman has to deal with a new situation.

The Fraternal: From the Intrapsychic to the Intersubjective

The author, through the analysis of the psychoanalytic literature on the theme of the fraternal, traces a path aimed at bringing out the way in which this question has been treated in classical authors and in contemporary international literature. In a first part of the article, the contributions of Freud, Klein, Winnicott and Lacan are analysed. Subsequently, the author tries to show the theoretical evolutions relating to the fraternal, present in the contemporary landscape, with particular reference to the transition from an intrapsychic focus to an intersubjective focus. Finally, the author offers a reflection on the role of the fraternal in the social field.

Rebels without a cause? ‘Criminals’ and fascism in The Authoritarian Personality

An important empirical basis for the interpretations of Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson and R. Nevitt Sanford in The Authoritarian Personality (TAP) were questionnaires and in-depth interviews conducted by William R. Morrow with prisoners at California’s San Quentin prison. A reconstruction of the historical approach exposes serious methodological shortcomings, some of which Morrow openly addressed in memoranda, revealing that the supposedly particularly authoritarian attitude of the prisoners was due, among other things, to their submission to the psychiatric authority in the authoritarian situation of the prison and due to the conditions of a hierarchical prisoner society. In TAP, the empirically inadequate survey was interpreted primarily in the context of psychoanalytic literature on crime at that time, in particular Robert Lindner’s Rebel Without A Cause, whose theory of pseudo rebellion permeated TAP. Focusing on the shortcomings of TAP, this article argues, enables its inspiring insights to be appreciated.

Psychological Transformation: Convergent Themes in Jewish and Psychoanalytic Thinking

The potential for psychological transformation is fundamental to psychoanalytic theory and therapy and to Jewish belief and practice. While Freud's rejection of religious experience as a manifestation of personal and cultural pathology had a long-reaching effect in the history of psychoanalysis, the theoretical extensions and advances of some of his followers have made it possible to view religious experience through a different lens. The author explores the convergence of Jewish ideas about the process of repentance (teshuvah) and the integration of psychic polarities conceptualized in the psychoanalytic literature, namely, love and hate in the shift from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position (Klein) and separation and reunion in the establishment of the self and the development of sublimation (Loewald).