Can psychoanalysis contribute to the understanding of fundamentalism? An introduction to a vast question.

During the past 20 years, religious and political fundamentalism has produced a number of barbaric terrorist attacks which have strongly shaken public opinion in the Western world. Can psychoanalysis contribute to the understanding of the unconscious functioning of these fundamentalist groups? The different presentations of fundamentalism and the various hypotheses concerning its origins and aims are discussed. Should fundamentalism be understood mainly as a means for strengthening the sense of identity, as a search for power, or as a refuge in certainty? When trying to understand these phenomena, are there any pitfalls a psychoanalyst should beware of? The slippery ground of applied analysis is discussed, as well as some dangers specific to this issue, such as reductionism, theoretical hyper-saturation, wild speculative over-interpretation, and emotional/ethnocentric biases. Whereas there is general inter-field agreement concerning the absence of obvious psychopathology or of a typical sort of personality in the members of fundamentalist groups, the major contribution of psychoanalysis might be to the understanding of the particular ways in which an individual appropriates a given ideology and the weight of group dynamics. On less slippery ground, detailed clinical material is used in order to illustrate both the defensive value of a fundamentalist position taken by an adolescent and the intervention of fundamentalism in everyday psychoanalytical societies. Particularly relevant issues are suggested to be narcissism and the structuring role of relationships with the others.

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE ARTS: THE SLIPPERY GROUND OF APPLIED ANALYSIS.

The ways in which today's psychoanalysts approach art closely follow the avenues opened by Freud a hundred years ago. Drawing mainly on Freud's studies on Jensen's Gradiva (1907) and on Leonardo da Vinci (1910a), the author examines the main paradigms he used in discussing artistic activity, including his doubts and hesitations. Present-day approaches to art are then examined via a discussion of the advantages and pitfalls of psychobiography, of the case study, and of textual approaches. The author makes a case for the type of interdisciplinary dialogue in which the goal is to establish a cross-fertilization between psychoanalysis and other fields of knowledge while striving to avoid hypersaturation of a work of art in order to foster expansion of the mind.

Sobre los efectos de la nocién de «lo arcaico» en la escucha del analista / On the effect of the notion of the «the archaic» upon the analyst´s listening

La aurora resume cuatro maneras en que las diferentes corrientes del psicoanálisis contemporáneo intentan comprender «lo arcaico»: en términos de lo traumático y lo no representado, como lo informe corporal, como fantasias inconscientes primitivas de carácter sensorial y presimbólico y desde la óptica del encuentro profundo con el otro. Se plantea entonces la siguiente pregunta: ¿en qué condiciones pueden las diversas concepciones de «lo arcaico» ampliar la escucha del analista o, por el contrario, saturarla y cerrar el acceso a aquello que precisamente se intenta alcanzar? Tras recordar la invitación de Bion a respetar tanto la individualidad del paciente como la del analista, la aurora discute la tension entre un psicoanálisis centrado en los contenidos y un psicoanálisis atento a los procesos. Esta problemática viene ilustrada por una viñeta en la que se discute la presentación de un análisis en un seminario clínico y el fracaso del intento de elaboración grupal (AU)

The author summarizes four ways in which the different currents of contemporary psychoanalysis comprehend «the archaic»: in terms of the traumatic and unrepresented; with regard to the formless corporeal; in connection with primitive unconscious phantasies of a sensorial and presymbolic nature and from the viewpoint of the profound encounter with the other. She then formulates the following question: under which conditions may the diverse conceptions of «the archaic» broaden the analyst’s listening or, conversely, saturate it and close off access to precisely that which we are attempting to reach? Calling to mind Bion’s invitation to respect both the analyst’s as well as the patient’s individuality, the author discusses the tension between a psychoanalysis focused upon the contents and a psychoanalysis attentive to the processes. This predicament is illustrated by a vignette which discusses the presentation of an analysis in a clinical seminar and the failed attempt at group working-through (AU)

Sugestión y seducción en la psicoterapia de adolescentes / Suggestion and seduction in psychotherapy with adolescents

La autora sugiere considerar la adquisición de una identidad personal como la tarea central de la adolescencia. En este sentido se puede decir que la problemática fundamental de este periodo de la vida es la problemática narcisista, entendiendo por narcisismo la relación a la imagen de sí mismo y la cuestión de la regulación de la auto-estima. El adolescente oscila entre el deseo intenso de autonomía y la nostalgia de la dependencia hacia los padres protectores de la infancia. En este contexto los riesgos de sugestión y de seducción en la psicoterapia de adolescentes son particularmente agudos, a la vez temidos como obstáculo hacia la independencia y deseados como fusión tranquilizadora. El terapeuta debe tener en cuenta estos riesgos, tanto en su paciente como en sí mismo, a fin de estimular una apropiación subjetiva por parte del adolescente que sea lo más auténtica posible (AU)

The author suggests considering the development of a personal identity as the central task of adolescence. In this sense, we can say that the fundamental issues of this period of life are the narcissistic difficulties, understanding narcissism as the relationship with the own image and the regulation of self-esteem. The adolescent oscillates between the intense desire for autonomy and the nostalgia of the dependency to protecting parents of childhood. In this context the risks for suggestion and seduction in the psychotherapy with adolescents are particularly intense, being at the same time feared as an obstacle toward independence and desired as a reassuring fusion. The therapist must take into account these risks, both in the patient as in himself/herself, in order to stimulate a subjective appropriation as authentic as possible (AU)

John Cage and W. R. Bion: an exercise in interdisciplinary dialogue.

The author discusses some striking convergences which appear in the thought of two unsettling and powerfully stimulating personalities of the 20th century: John Cage in music and art, and W.R. Bion in psychoanalysis. Both foster openness to the unknown and the need to tolerate 'uncertainties, mysteries, doubts', arguing for an attitude requiring negative valence and receptive emptiness. In their search for fresh personal awareness of reality aimed at allowing mental transformation and growth, both strive to disturb intellectual comfort and do not hesitate to use pro(e)vocative and even shocking means. They both propose an attitude towards tradition which demands the freedom to use and recreate inherited knowledge in a personal and innovative way. Finally, both Cage and Bion maintained a highly auto-reflective attitude, carefully considering the artist's/psychoanalyst's contribution to the process of art and psychoanalysis. These convergences probably represent important and wider contemporary cultural trends which permeate in their different realizations.

Contemporary art and Hanna Segal's thinking on aesthetics.

From the point of view of the history of ideas in psychoanalysis, a major shift may be described from Freud's starting point considering art as sublimation of sexual desires on a largely objectal level to later developments emphasizing the presence in art of destructiveness and narcissistic conflicts. Segal's contribution represents a watershed in this evolution. Following Klein, Hanna Segal suggests considering art in relation to depressive anxieties and reparation in such a way that artistic activity may be seen as an attempt 'to restore and re-create the loved object outside and inside the ego' which implies a successful work of mourning accompanied by symbol formation. For Segal, these reparative processes are conveyed through formal beauty which represents the victory of reparation over destruction. Nevertheless, contemporary art demands that we consider the intervention, in art, of more raw and less symbolized/sublimated processes, including acting-out in often primitive, psychotic or perverse ways. Thus this paper unfolds in two directions: on the one hand, it examines the differences and continuities between Freud's and Segal's thinking whilst, on the other, the author presents some alternative ideas which stress the search for truth and new thinking in contemporary art.

[The practitioner defeated? Present-day outlook on hypochondria]. / Le praticien en échec? Conceptions actuelles sur l'hypocondrie.

The hypochondriacal patient's refusal to be reassured by his doctor about a non-existent illness threatens the practitioner with failure. The authors discuss the value of hypochondriacal states for the so-called "normal" person. The ongoing trend is to consider hypochondriacal events as a sort of psychological "dampener" allowing to live out, and work through, identity changes both at a physical and a psychical level. They appear thus to be at the service of life, offering the patient the possibility to find a better psychic adaptation and the practitioner the chance to help his patient in a creative and satisfying way to find sense and meaning.

Marcel Duchamp: on the fruitful use of narcissism and destructiveness in contemporary art.

Considering Marcel Duchamp's work, this paper raises the question as to the nature of the subjective experience proposed by contemporary art to today's audience. Approaching art through the concept of sublimation, Freud maintains a fundamentally optimistic and positive view, putting forward its libidinal and sexual aspects, the pursuit of pleasure, beauty, and omnipotence. Following the path opened by Freud through the concept of the 'uncanny', most post-Freudian authors have proposed a 'blacker' image of artistic endeavour, allowing the expression of aggression. From a perspective which is neither that of an art historian nor a moralist, the author proposes the idea that certain propositions of contemporary art may allow the viewer to live narcissistic and destructive fantasies, via culturally sanctioned and socially acceptable means. The recognition of the fertile use of destruction as a condition of the emergence of the new, on the one hand, as well as the legitimacy of the expression through art of the most primitive fantasies and the right to non-communication, on the other, are postulated as constructs for a non-normative, non-judgemental psychoanalytic approach to the cultural world.