Looking for the Lost Sibling

The author addresses the siblings theme not only by considering it part of the bonds of a concrete and real family but by relating it to more phantasmal analogies in order to give voice to the world of internal representations. This paper is inspired by some fundamental considerations formulated by René Kaes in the book “The fraternal complex” (Le complexe fraternal, 2008): n the fraternal complex two different levels can be identified: 1) an archaic level characterized by a pre-Oedipal climate in which confusion and undifferentiatedness prevail and where the brother or sister assumes the uncanny dimension of a foreign object, a non-recognized, encrypted and encysted double or lookalike. 2) a level of Oedipal nature in which the otherness, the difference and the recognition of the other can be structured; this level makes it possible to open up towards a dimension of separation and identification. These two different levels will be illustrated trough some clinical situations.

Contribution to the Study of the Dynamics of the Self (I)

The author retraces, by means of a patient’s short analysis, the reshuffling of the forces at play in his psychic life. The article is about the continuity of the dreamlike sequences, which have highlighted the evolution of the patient’s ability to reconstruct a link with his objects, despite the influence of a narcissistic sector of his personality that hindered its development. All of this clinical material has enabled the author to support her theory of the balance between life drives and death drives, between reality-ego and narcissistic ego, which share the entire psychic organization.

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.

Brotherhood and Destructivity in Sibling Relationships

The integrative and assimilatory tendencies of modern society are based on “fraternity”, which refers to the sibling level. Siblings are for each other primary objects with all the possible positive and negative affects that can go along with it. The ego functions are strongly stimulated by the exchange with the siblings, but also the infantile sexuality. In adolescence there can be sexual assaults between sister and brother that are still socially taboo. How does one explain that brotherhood can arise from sibling relations - so often characterized by jealousy and rivalry?

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.

Rio De Janeiro Workshops

The following three papers were presented in September 2019 at the Simposio Psicanalise e Envelhecimento convened by the Sociedade Brasileira de Psicanálise de Rio de Janeiro. They are the result of the internal production of the Travesía Foundation of Buenos Aires, institution devoted to the meta-psychological study of midlife transition and crisis since 1989. We would like to thank the SBPRJ for its invitation and the cordiality with which we were received. The fact that the three workshops were written especially for the Symposium led us to select narratives from Brazilian authors so that our words would resonate in the auditorium as something familiar. Likewise, we have allowed ourselves to disseminate psychoanalytic understanding towards other ends, contributing to the universality of the discipline. Furthermore, the workshops have been written in a way that makes previous readings of the narratives under consideration unnecessary.

Towards a New Model of Dream Interpretation?

The discussion of an analytic session which includes the dream of a patient is followed by some theoretical reflections on contemporary dream interpretation in clinical psychoanalysis. The approach to dreams is increasingly intersubjective and relational. The focus is more on the dream as a curtain of illusion. Contemporary analysts are focused on the unconscious message in the dream about transference-countertransference dynamics, the functioning of the analyst and his way of intervening, the use of the dream as play material, the portrayal of the unconscious intrapsychic and relational situation, countertransference dreams and sequential dreams. The way of working with dreams is much influenced by the work of Bion and his followers.

Childism: A Review of Falih Koksal’s Article on “Needs, Habits and Children’s Wellbeing” Alongside an Exploration of the Film “System Crasher”

In this review I will focus on societies mistreating children in order to fulfil certain needs through them, to project internal conflicts and self-hatred outward, or to assert themselves when they feel their authority has been questioned. Regardless of their individual motivations, they all rely upon a societal prejudice against children to justify themselves and legitimate their behaviour. We are all familiar of prejudice against people of colour, women, LGBTQ in Western society. Sadly, prejudice against children – “childism” (Young-Bruehl, 2012) is not acknowledged. Incarcerating children, sending victims of abuse and neglect to juvenile detention centers (juvies) is unethical and unacceptable. We all know that many children who have spent years of their lives in and out of juvies will join the adult prison population. The word “childism” is not in the political discourse or our dictionaries, and no subfield of Prejudice Studies has been dedicated to it. In this review I invite readers to understand how our (Western) society is failing to support the development and well-being of its children to combat such a prejudice. Childism is a prejudice that rationalizes and legitimates the maltreatment of children and as professionals we have a responsibility to fight it. We (all of us) must learn not to project our self hatred onto our children in the form of a prejudice. With psychoanalytic understanding and guidance an abusing system can give up abusing. The “intergenerational transmission of trauma” can be interrupted.

Secrets and Secrecy in Reproduction

Reproduction, a biopsychosocial process, is surrounded by many secrets and secrecies. Reproductive medicine, in particular, which for more than 40 years carries out fertilization extra-corporally, employs frightening, and hitherto unanticipated and, to psychoanalysts, ‘indigestible’ methods, which may well negate both blood ties and the generational chain. A child may have up to seven different parental parts at the beginning of its life. Optimally, these parents and children should be accompanied psychotherapeutically all along the way. The Mother-Embryo-Dialogue I have developed, which creates bonding between the mother and child from the very beginning, is a suitable method for this purpose. It serves to humanize reproductive medicine as well as mental and physical health of the mother-to-be and the child. My chosen clinical case study illustrates the course of a therapy, which began as treatment for the desire to have a child and ended as trauma accompaniment.