Some interpersonal aspects of self-mutilation in a borderline patient.

Some interpersonal aspects of self-mutilation and vampiristic blood rituals in borderline states are discussed, as these were clarified in the therapeutic relationship established with a hospitalized young woman. The therapeutic stance during the period of inpatient treatment discussed emphasized consistent reinforcement of boundaries and limits in order to facilitate a mutual exploration of the interpersonal context in which her symptoms emerged. Blood rituals repeatedly expressed primitive identifications with intrusive, controlling, and sadistic aspects of a psychotic mothering figure. These were reflected in the treatment in her crazed, angry demands--through her symptoms--for a "caring" response from the therapist, whom she deliberately and vengefully assaulted through the medium of her own blood. Her manipulative and controlling efforts to maintain a human attachment highlighted her anxieties about separation and abandonment. In subsequent phases of the psychotherapeutic work, her relation to her own blood reflected struggles with womanhood and sexuality.

Transference and countertransference in homosexuality--changing psychoanalytic views.

This retrospective review of the psychoanalytic treatment literature about homosexuals traces the development over the years of views of transference and countertransference. Shifts are identified in the dynamic understanding of transference phenomena, from an early emphasis on Oedipal issues to the contemporary focus on early maternal relations and how disturbances in these are recapitulated in the homosexual transference; this evolution parallels broader trends in clinical psychoanalysis. Against the background of rapidly changing social and professional attitudes toward homosexuality, and in light of burgeoning interest in countertransference among psychoanalysts, the absence of any discussion of countertransference in the treatment of homosexuals is considered significant. Further, the overwhelming attention given to male, compared to female, homosexuals is noted. Finally, some questions are raised about the implications of the contemporary status of psychoanalytic thinking about the treatment of homosexuality.

Male homosexual psychodynamics and the Rorschach test.

A review of contradictory findings regarding Wheeler's Rorschach content signs of male homosexuality suggested that negative findings may have resulted from a focus on homosexual populations characterized by minimal arousal of underlying unconscious conflicts. It was hypothesized that activating these unconscious psychodynamics would enhance the discriminative power of the Wheeler signs. Inkblot protocols obtained in an earlier study from matched groups of homosexuals and heterosexuals under two experimental conditions -- involving subliminal exposure of either an incest-related or a neutral control stimulus -- were scored for Wheeler signs. The incest condition brought about a significantly greater incidence of the signs in homosexual records only, suggesting that the intensification of unconscious incest wishes stimulates homosexual reactions, consonant with psychoanalytic formulations.