Sexual Aversion

Sexual aversion is a phobic reaction often involving trauma, not necessarily related to sexual abuse or rape. It consists of avoidance of sex related stimuli that have been associated by the patient with distressing experiences. It leads to sexual dysfunction for either male or female, and it can have a tremendous impact on a person’s life. This article investigates the etiology, evolution and factors the construct implies and explores some treatment considerations.

Detestable Residue: From Psychoanalysis to Blanchot and Lyotard

This chapter traces Freud’s interest in yet apparent aversion to phobia, from his earliest writings on the topic in the 1890s through to his reinterpretation of the 1909 Little Hans case study in the 1920s. Here, it is possible to detect something like a phobic reaction to phobia itself: what might be called Freud’s phobophobia. It is also be possible to find, in the subsequent literature on the case of Little Hans, traces of this phobic reaction contaminating sometimes sharply critical readings: in Deleuze’s markedly hostile attitude to this Freudian text, we find an aversion to what is in fact most ‘phobic’ about it. Through exploring the Lacanian idea that phobia prevents the onset of psychosis in the event of a certain lapse of the paternal metaphor, phobia seems to operate precisely through a certain resistance to itself, a doubleness that renders Freud’s phobophobia not just a psychological curiosity but perhaps a feature of the very structure of phobia from the outset. Psychoanalytic approaches to phobia with are contrasted with other ways to think about its subject-matter, notably in the writings of Blanchot and Lyotard.

Notes from Underground: A Horneyan Analysis

In attempting to make sense of the vacillating, inconsistent, and often bizarre behavior of the underground man, critics have employed two distinct modes of analysis, thematic and psychological. The psychological approach seems more appropriate; the novel is essentially a portrait of a character. As yet, however, critics have not approached the work with a psychological theory that is congruent with it and adequate to its complexities. The underground man's character structure, attitudes, and behavior can be understood in terms of Karen Horney's analysis of neurotic processes. In Horneyan terms, the underground man is a detached person whose aggressive and compliant trends are very close to awareness and rather evenly balanced. He experiences severe and almost continuous conflict between all three of his trends and is caught in a devastating crossfire of contradictory “shoulds.” He compensates for his feeling of worthlessness by self-glorification and then hates himself even more because he cannot live up to his idealized image. The novel's philosophic passages are an integral part of Dostoevsky's portrait of his character. The underground man's worship of freedom, will, caprice, and individuality, and his phobic reaction to anything suggesting coercion, conformity to law, or ordinariness are all aspects of his detached solution.

Phobia: Types, Dynamics and Treatments*

Phobic symptoms were discussed in different types of personalities: ‘normal’, psychoneurotic, and psychotic. The psychodynamics were different in each; also the suggested treatment was different. The idea that phobic reaction is not a disease in itself was entertained, and an attempt was made to see why phobic symptoms developed and why they came to the psychiatrist's attention.

Effect of “In Vivo” Training on Experimental Desensitization of a Phobia

2 groups of Ss were treated for phobic reaction to snakes with the method of desensitization based on reciprocal inhibition. The group which received “in vivo” training with the phobic object, in addition, achieved a greater relative change than the group which did not ( P < .05). Both groups combined showed significant change following therapy.