Remembering, repeating and working-through as a step in Freud's ongoing struggle with the "what", "why" and "how" of analytic knowing in the curative process.

In this paper the author offers a new reading of Freud's "Remembering, Repeating and Working-through", examining the complex nature of central concepts that Freud presents within it. She demonstrates the text's special role in an ongoing effort of Freud's to articulate and ground the heart of his analytic insight that knowledge cures. While the insight itself is very well-known, the fact that Freud struggled throughout his life with its articulation and grounding is not. The struggle centered on questions pertaining to how analytic knowing could, not only enlighten the patient, but actually change his unconscious dynamics, and why the patient, having already "opted" for pathology in place of knowing would come to accept it; and ultimately, what was the nature of the knowledge offered in analysis and the individual's relationship to it that allowed for such dramatic changes to occur. The author briefly presents some of her earlier work on Freud's struggle with these issues and how Melanie Klein resolved them. It is in this context that she demonstrates how in Remembering, Repeating and Working-through" Freud may be seen to be taking important steps towards developing his ideas on analytic knowing and in ways that anticipate Klein's resolutions. This points to the close tie between Klein's and Freud's thinking on the nature of the analytic process and the person's desire for self-knowledge on which it relies, brings out the richness of this thinking and grounds its value to contemporary psychoanalysis.

Self-constitution and "Infrastructural" Change: An Interdisciplinary Account of Psychoanalytic Action.

Beyond revealing unconscious pathological identifications and traits-including their past usefulness but current toxicity-what techniques in our psychoanalytic practice can lead to change? Radically different from mainstream philosophical views advocating that such undesirable self-aspects should not be endorsed as Self, psychoanalysts hold that these negative traits must instead be understood as part of one's Self. But then what? Investigating concepts from classical conditioning, neuroscience, the philosophy of mind and action, and psychoanalytic practice itself, this article will suggest a preliminary account of the mechanism of action of psychoanalytic work after insight.

Hot Feelings: Sexual Transference and Countertransference with Male Mid-Adolescents and a Female Psychoanalyst.

The author focuses on the workings of the female analyst-male pair in the consulting room when sexual feelings emerge as part of the adolescent storm. The need for open-bodiedness in relation to the perception of the bodily states of both the analyst and analysand is described and discussed. The author shows how somatic countertransference, reverie, and projective identification are harnessed creatively in the service of transformation. The importance of the third to help provide an analytic space for thought and meaning, rather than enactment and impasse, is discussed. The trajectory from the analyst's wish to silence sexual transference and countertransference in the consulting room, followed by the analyst's initial reluctance to discuss the hot feelings with colleagues, and then the impact of publication anxiety when writing through the experiences and revising this paper is described.

The lessons learned working in diagnostic and therapeutic radiography departments through the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, UK. What can we do differently the next time?

INTRODUCTION: Following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, a radical restructure of NHS services occurred, prioritising the acute needs of infected patients. This included suspending routine procedures, leading to an inevitable resurgence in the future, placing increased demands on the NHS, including diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers. With radiography departments already experiencing staff shortages due to COVID-19 related illnesses and vulnerable staff shielding, there is a need to implement plans within radiography departments to ensure their sustainability in the future. METHODS: A mixed methods study was undertaken in Northern Ireland, involving distribution of a survey to diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers alongside conducting interviews with radiography department managers. RESULTS: 106 radiographers completed the survey, with 9 radiography managers and 2 band eight superintendents participating in interviews. Over 60% of participants felt that morale declined in their departments, with the majority feeling that the pandemic had a negative impact on their physical or mental health and wellbeing. Managers felt that to improve staff morale and motivation, incentives need to be offered including remuneration, flexible working and support for professional development. CONCLUSION: Whilst predicting when the next wave of a COVID-19 variant or the next pandemic will occur is impossible, preparation and planning will help manage the situation better. This requires identifying clinical areas for expansion/retraction and having access to additional staff to meet the demands on the service to ensure all patients receive care not just those acutely ill. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study has identified key lessons learned from the pandemic within the radiography departments. This will enable preparation and strategic planning for future pandemics.

The Only Fag Around: Twinship Needs In Gay Childhood.

A number of contemporary psychoanalytic writers have characterized gay childhood as a profoundly isolating experience. Within a developmentally informed self psychological framework, the loneliness of gay childhood is theorized here as a deficit in requisite twinship experience in early life. A detailed clinical example illustrates how these thwarted twinship needs may reemerge in the transference to the analyst, and how patients may escalate their acting out when the analyst misattunes to, or altogether misses, manifestations of twinship longings in the transference. A bridge between Freud's theory of the repetition compulsion and Kohut's theory of selfobject transferences suggests how specific moments of thwarted twinship needs may be repeated within the analytic relationship in an attempt to master the earlier experience. The experience of the analyst being pulled into the patient's attempts at mastery is detailed. A broader theoretical trend is hypothesized whereby psychoanalytic theories may have a pull toward twinship between each other.

Formulações do conceito de elaboração psíquica no pensamento freudiano: apontamentos para um debate / Concept of psychic elaboration in Freudian thought: notes for a debate / Formulations du concept d'élaboration psychique dans la pensée freudienne: notes pour un débat / Formulaciones del concepto de elaboración psíquica en el pensamiento freudiano: notas para un debate

Resumo Discutiremos sobre o desenvolvimento da clínica freudiana e os impasses que surgiram no percurso de Freud que levaram a diferentes formulações do que, aparentemente, seria um conceito único de elaboração psíquica. Nosso objetivo é situar as condições históricas, teóricas e técnicas que possibilitaram a emergência das diferentes formulações da elaboração psíquica no desenvolvimento da clínica freudiana, investigando seus desdobramentos e suas variações. A primeira formulação da elaboração psíquica, a elaboração associativa, relaciona-se a um processo intrapsíquico, definido como a capacidade do psiquismo para ligar afetos e representações. Já a segunda, a perlaboração, relaciona-se com a superação de resistências, em um processo transferencial e interpsíquico, uma vez que é pelas intervenções do analista que a perlaboração encontra chances de ocorrer como potencialidade. Por fim, apontaremos que a segunda formulação acarreta a primeira, pois é pela superação das resistências que a associação de uma representação ocorre.

Abstract This paper discusses the development of the Freudian clinic and the impasses in Freud's course that led to different formulations of what would apparently be a single concept of psychic elaboration. It seeks to situate the historical, theoretical, and technical conditions that enabled the emergence of different formulations of psychic elaboration during the development of the Freudian clinic, investigating its developments and variations. The first formulation of psychic elaboration, associative elaboration, is related to an intrapsychic process, defined as the psyche's ability to link affections and representations. The second, working-through, is related to overcoming resistance, in a transferential and interpsychic process, since it is through the analyst's interventions that working-through finds chances to occur as potentiality. Finally, the paper points out that the second formulation entails the first, since it is by overcoming resistances that the association of a representation occurs.

Résumé Cet article traite du développement de la clinique freudienne et des impasses du parcours de Freud qui ont conduit à différentes formulations de ce qui serait apparemment un concept unique d'élaboration psychique. L'objectif est de situer les conditions historiques, théoriques et techniques qui ont permis l'émergence de différentes formulations d'élaboration psychique au cours du développement de la clinique freudienne, en étudiant ses déroulements et ses variations. La première formulation de l'élaboration psychique, l'élaboration associative, est liée à un processus intrapsychique, défini comme la capacité du psychisme à relier les affections et les représentations. La seconde, la perlaboration, est liée au dépassement de la résistance, dans un processus transférentiel et interpsychique, puisque c'est à travers les interventions de l'analyste que la perlaboration trouve des chances de se produire comme potentialité. Enfin, l'article souligne que la seconde formulation entraîne la première, car c'est en surmontant la résistance que l'association d'une représentation se produit.

Resumen Discutiremos el desarrollo de la clínica freudiana y los callejones sin salida que surgieron en el camino de Freud y lo condujeron a diferentes formulaciones de lo que sería, aparentemente, un concepto único de elaboración psíquica. Nuestro objetivo es situar las condiciones históricas, teóricas y técnicas que hicieron posible el surgimiento de diferentes formulaciones de elaboración psíquica en el desarrollo de la clínica freudiana, investigando sus desarrollos y variaciones. La primera formulación de elaboración psíquica, la elaboración asociativa, está relacionada con un proceso intrapsíquico, definido como la capacidad de la psique para vincular afectos y representaciones. La segunda, la perlaboración, está relacionada con la superación de la resistencia, en un proceso transferencial e interpsíquico, ya que es a través de las intervenciones del analista que la perlaboración encuentra posibilidades de ocurrir como potencialidad. Finalmente, señalaremos que la segunda formulación produce la primera, porque al vencer la resistencia ocurre la asociación de una representación.

Graciliano ramos and paulo honório: biography, melancholic autobiography and technique in literary creation / Graciliano ramos e paulo honório: biografia, autobiografia melancólica e técnica na criação literária

RESUMO: A partir de textos de Freud, Ogden, Leader, Ricœur e da análise de S. Bernardo, propomos três características de uma autobiografia melancólica: é uma forma literária da autorrecriminação; do espaço privado; e que não é produto de um trabalho de rememoração, mas de uma compulsão de repetição. Em seguida, comparamos a escrita de Infância e S. Bernardo, particularmente em relação às imagens sonoras, às ideias e atitudes e à relação entre pais e filhos. Por último, defendemos que a estrutura melancólica é uma potência, e não um limite criativo.

Abstract: From the writings of Freud, Ogden, Leader, Ricœur, and a Sao Bernardo's analysis, we propound some characteristics of a melancholic autobiography: it is a literary form of self-loathing; of privacy; and that is not the outcome of a remembrance work, but of a compulsion to repetition. We then compare the writing of Infancia and Sao Bernardo, particularly concerning sonant images, ideas and attitudes, and a relationship between parents and children. Finally, we argue that the melancholy structure is a power and not a creative limit.

Emerging From Deadness: A Microanalysis of the Analytic Relationship.

Video microanalysis, a technique developed by infant researchers, is used to understand the withdrawal that developed between analyst and analysand when the latter resumed use of the couch after a period of sitting up. The case includes three excerpts of microprocess, accompanied by descriptions of content apart from explicit verbal material, content such as tone of voice, speech patterns, facial expression, and body movements, along with diagrams showing the second-by-second vocal rhythm coordination of analyst and analysand. Supervision using the video, as well as the analyst's viewing the video with the analysand in a modified use of video feedback, widened the pair's understanding of the determinants of their mutual participation in withdrawal and a feeling of deadness, thus freeing them from the repetition of an enactment. It is shown how (1) movement to the couch created an affectively heightened state that brought central psychodynamic aspects of the analysand's experience to the fore; (2) video microanalysis allowed access to previously unavailable content; and (3) understanding of unconscious, dynamically determined conflicts and defenses embedded in body movement, facial expression, speech tone, and rhythm patterns illuminated facets of the co-created relatedness between analysand and analyst.

Postmemory.

The urgency of the problem of how to learn from the relatively recent past in order not to repeat its devastating effects, a problem that revolves around the ethics of memory and history, has combined with an awareness that later generations of victims and perpetrators-the "post" generations-may find themselves inhibited in relation to moving forwards because they are not truly "post" at all. It is as if they are haunted by the experiences of their predecessors, which is passed on in some way through stories and selective silences, as well as through the older generation's ways of handling themselves and the personal and cultural representations of their situation. This article presents a psychoanalytic reading of the postmemory literature, drawing on second generation Holocaust literature and in particular rendering the distinction between postmemory as a mode of traumatic identification and postmemorial work as a form of working through. Active memorial work that allows repetitions to be turned into processes of recovery is essential for the laying of ghosts to rest.

Entering One's Own Life as an Aim of Clinical Psychoanalysis.

The historical development of psychoanalysis has demonstrated that the aim of clinical work can change as the patient population changes. One of the main tasks of psychoanalytic working through today is to help difficult patients trapped in imitative dynamics and "never-to-be-born selves" enter a life of their own. Particular emphasis is given to activating a body-mind relationship, catalyzing emergence from the unrepressed unconscious, and constructing space-time parameters in relation to the most primitive and undifferentiated emotional experiences. Two clinical cases are presented, in the first of which the analyst found himself invested with an intense devitalization that tested his capacity to be present. In the second case the analyst was confronted by the necessity of stimulating the birth of basic functions of mental notation in relation to blind and dangerous acting out. The confrontation in the analytic relationship mobilized the patient's internal resources of self-observation and self-containment, from which the capacity to exist and be present to the self could emerge.

O trabalho de perlaboração e suas implicações para os sofrimentos narcísico-identitários: uma contribuição de R. Roussillon / Working-through and its implications to narcissistic identity troubles: a contribution of R. Roussillon's / La perlaboración y sus implicaciones para las problemáticas narcisistico-identificatorias: una contribución de R. Roussillon

A perlaboração, conceito central e etapa crucial do método clínico freudiano, tem recebido pouca atenção no cenário psicanalítico atual. Em contrapartida, o mesmo não acontece quando a temática aborda os sofrimentos narcísico-identitários, alvo de interesse cada vez maior por parte de pesquisadores. Nesse contexto, Roussillon tem oferecido contribuições originais no que diz respeito à extensão da técnica psicanalítica, a fim de criar condições para o tratamento desse tipo de sofrimento e tornar possível o trabalho de perlaboração. Com esse propósito, o autor propõe uma escuta polifônica para os sofrimentos narcísico-identitários: uma escuta daquilo que não pode ser dito. Nesse caso, cabe à perlaboração a tarefa de dar voz ao não dito, mediante o esforço de vislumbrar um contorno daquilo que ainda se afigura como impossível de ser dito.

The working-through, a central concept and crucial stage of Freud's clinical method, has received little attention in the current psychoanalytic scene. By contrast, the same is not true when dealing with narcissistic troubles of identity, increasingly studied by researchers. In this context, Roussillon has offered unique contributions regarding the extension of psychoanalytic technique, in order to create suitable conditions for the treatment of this kind of suffering and to make possible the working-through. With this goal, the author proposes polyphonic listening to the narcissistic troubles of identity: listening for what cannot be said. In this case, the working-through has the task of giving voice to the unsaid, making an effort to discern an outline of what is still deemed impossible to be said.

La perlaboración, un concepto central y la etapa crucial del método clínico de Freud, ha recibido poca atención en el entorno psicoanalítico actual. Al contrario, el mismo no es certo cuando el sujeto se dirige alas problemáticas narcisistico-identificatorias, cada vez más estudiadas por los investigadores. En este contexto, Roussillon ha ofrecido contribuciones originales en relación con la extensión de la técnica psicoanalítica, con el fin de crear las condiciones para el tratamiento de este tipo de sufrimiento y hacer posible la perlaboración. Con esta intención, el autor propone una escucha polifónica para las problemáticas narcisistico-identificatorias: una escucha de lo que no se puede decir. En este caso, la perlaboración empreende la tarea de dar voz a lo no dicho por el esfuerzo para delinear un esquema de lo que todavía representa imposible de ser dicho.

Escassez de sonhos em uma sociedade de excessos / Escacity of dreams in a society of excess

O presente artigo é uma reflexão sobre o modo de vida contemporâneo, sob o vértice do binômio excesso/escassez. O excesso apresenta-se na prevalência da imagem sobre a narrativa, do ruído sobre o silêncio, da exposição sobre a intimidade. Vivem-se sensações de aceleração, de agitação, de imediatismo, de falta de tempo, que sinalizam uma espécie de avalanche de influxos na mente, com potencial para provocar rupturas, como nas situações traumáticas. Essas marcas da contemporaneidade trazem em si a escassez das condições para elaboração da experiência vivida, uma vez que para isso se requer tempo, tolerância, introspecção, intimidade, que são recursos necessários para a tessitura de sonhos e constituição da subjetividade.

This article is a reflection on the contemporary way of life, under the binomial of excess/scarcity. The excess is presented in the predominance of the image over the narrative, the noise over the silence, the exhibition over the intimacy. In this scenery, there are experiences of acceleration, agitation, immediacy, lack of time, that sign a sort of overcharge into the mind, with the potential to cause disruptions, as in traumatic situations. These contemporary characteristics bring with them the scarcity of conditions to working through the lived experiences that require time, tolerance, introspection, intimacy. These are necessary resources to the weaving of dreams and the constitution of subjectivity.

"A balada do Velho Marinheiro" do poeta S. Coleridge. Uma leitura crítica de Arthur Hyatt Williams / Coleridge's the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A critical reading by Arthur H. Williams

Trata-se de um texto extraído do capítulo 12 do livro Nevrosi e delinquenza, de Arthur H. Williams. Na leitura do mencionado poema, A. H. Williams depara-se com um criminoso, o Velho Marinheiro, e resolve investigar a biografia de Coleridge. Nessa biografia ele encontra vários elementos que o fazem identificar aspectos do Velho Marinheiro em Coleridge. Segundo A. H. Williams, com a criação desse poema, Coleridge teria elaborado ou sublimado sua tendência homicida.

This is a text from chapter twelve of Nevrosi e delinquenza, a book by Arthur H. Williams. When reading Coleridge's poem, A. H. Williams found a criminal, the ancient mariner; he then decides to investigate Coleridge's biography. In it he finds many an element leading him to identify some aspects of the ancient mariner in Coleridge. According to Williams, with the creation of this poem, Coleridge would have elaborated or sublimzed his homicide tendency.

Searching for a Sensitive Way of Working Through.

This work intends to present aspects of clinical work in which the Ferenczian proposition of neo-catharsis, as re-emergence of repressed affective experience in the transference and countertransference presents itself as a challenge to the analyst, since a standard, classical technical approach results in repetition of past trauma with the analyst as perpetrator. A deviation from standard technique-free association, the principle of abstinence in transference, and interpretation-involving empathic listening, and affective sharing contains the patient's suffering. The re-emergence of suffering and terror, which represents the repressed affect associated with the traumatic past, but with a sympathetic and sensitive analyst, sharing their experience, is crucial in working through and healing.

De corpo e alma: fragmentos do trabalho de elaboração do psicanalista / Body and soul: fragments of the analyst working through process

Por meio do relato de uma vinheta clínica de uma análise de criança, a autora faz uma reflexão sobre o trabalho de elaboração do psicanalista. A ênfase é na investigação dos processos internos inconscientes que habitam a mente do analista e encontram expressão através das mais variadas produções culturais, especialmente a música, e em como associações oníricas nos auxiliam na compreensão dos nossos pacientes.

A clinical extract from a child psychoanalysis helps the analyst to think about the process of working through. The focus here is on the investigation of the unconscious processes that inhabit the analyst mind and find expression through varies cultural activities, music in particular, and in how the dream associations guide us in the task of understanding our patients.

As formulações da elaboração psíquica (Verarbeitung e Durcharbeitung) no pensamento freudiano: dos estudos sobre a histeria aos artigos técnicos / The formulations of psychic elaboration (Verarbeitung and Durcharbeitung) in Freud's thought: the Studies on Hysteria to Technical Articles

Esta dissertação pretende fazer uma discussão sobre o desenvolvimento da clínica freudiana e dos impasses que surgiram no percurso de Freud que o levaram a desenvolver diferentes formulações da elaboração psíquica, Verarbeitung e Ducharbeitung. Temos como objetivo circunscrever as condições históricas, teóricas e técnicas que conduziram à emergência e desdobramentos de duas formulações da elaboração psíquica (Verarbeitung e Durcharbeitung) na obra freudiana até 1918, apontar as relações destas com o manejo da transferência e da resistência na clínica psicanalítica a partir discussão dos casos clínicos freudianos Emmy, Miss Lucy, Katharina, Elisabeth Von R., Dora e Homem dos Ratos e apresentar a relação entre a perlaboração e a elaboração associativa, demonstrando que a superação de resistências leva à admissão afetiva. Realizamos uma leitura e análise histórico-conceitual dos textos freudianos, baseadas nas orientações laplanchianas. Na Comunicação Preliminar (1893), texto escrito por Breuer e Freud, encontramos a primeira formulação da elaboração psíquica (Verarbeitung). Ela é apresentada como o trabalho que o aparelho psíquico realiza com o intuito de integrar as excitações que chegam até ele, estabelecendo entre elas elos associativos. A partir dos casos freudianos Emmy, Miss Lucy, Katharina e Elisabeth Von R., apontamos que a definição e o objetivo da elaboração associativa não mudaram no pensamento freudiano, mas para fazer com que ela aconteça, Freud promoveu importantes alterações técnicas em sua clínica. A elaboração associativa (Verarbeitung) é um trabalho fundamentalmente intrapsíquico e está relacionada, no decorrer do desenvolvimento da obra freudiana, com a função de transmitir e ligar a energia oriunda da pulsão. Esta é um processo intrapsíquico de remoção do excesso de investimentos, promovendo o encadeamento representacional pela admissão de afetos conflituosos. A partir dos impasses transferenciais que Freud enfrentou com Dora, uma... (AU)

This master thesis intends to make a discussion of the development of Freud's clinical and impasses that have arisen in the course of Freud that led him to develop different formulations of psychic elaboration, Verarbeitung and Ducharbeitung. We aim to circumscribe the historical, theoretical and technical conditions that led to the emergence and developments of the two formulations of psychic elaboration (Verarbeitung and Durcharbeitung) in Freud's work until 1918, point their relations with the management of transference and resistance in the psychoanalytical clinic from discussion of Freudians clinical cases Emmy, Miss Lucy, Katharina, Elisabeth von R., Dora and the Rat Man and present the relationship between working-through and associative elaboration, demonstrating that overcoming resistance leads to affective admission. We performed a reading historical and conceptual analysis of the Freudian texts, based on laplanchians guidelines. In the "Preliminary Communication" (1893), text written by Breuer and Freud, we find the first formulation of psychic elaboration (Verarbeitung). It is presented as the work that the psychic apparatus performs in order to integrate the excitations coming to him, establishing associative links between them. From the Freudian cases Emmy, Miss Lucy, Katharina, Elisabeth von R., we pointed out that the definition and purpose of associative elaboration have not changed in the Freudian thought, but to make this happen, Freud promoted important technical changes in his clinic. Associative elaboration (Verarbeitung) is a fundamentally intrapsychic work and is related, in the course of the development of Freud's work, with the function of transmitting and turn the energy from the drive. This is an intrapsychic process of overinvestment removal, promoting representational chaining through admission of conflicting affects. From the transference impasses that Freud faced with Dora... (AU)

Reflections on trauma, symbolization and psychic pain in a case of neurosis and a case of psychosis.

This paper seeks to advance some considerations on trauma, historical reality, its symbolization and the psychic pain generated by the investigation of unconscious processes in psychoanalytic treatment. These themes will be explored by demonstrating the differences arising between traumatic experiences and their expression in phantasy, as they occurred in a case of neurosis and another of psychosis. In each case, the differences in the features of the symbolization and the processes of working through shall also be taken into consideration. Particular attention shall be paid to the specific difficulties encountered by the analyst in the interpretative treatment of the trauma resulting from the amount of psychic pain induced in the patient, which at times proves to be an insurmountable barrier and a destructive distortion of the process.

A Clinical Case Presentation: Understanding and Interpreting Dreams while Working Through Developmental Trauma.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the unique place of understanding and interpreting dreams in the psychoanalytic process while working through developmental trauma. This psychoanalytic process extended over six years and is presented in four phases: establishing the therapeutic alliance, a crisis, working through, and termination. Dreams from each of these four phases of the analysis are presented, and the collaborative work of understanding and interpreting these dreams is highlighted. Evidence is presented that from this analytic work there ensued an amelioration of the impact of developmental trauma and a furtherance of the development of internal psychic structure.

Relaxation in Technique Leading to New Beginnings.

This paper explores how standard analytic technique may result in a repetition of past traumatic experiences in the transference and countertransference analytic situation. Relaxation and elasticity of technique can lead to re-integration of previously fragmented ego functions, and in remembering and re-experiencing of previously repressed symbolic representations of fragmenting past traumatic experiences, resulting in neocatharsis and working through, thus healing wounds and scars sustained in self development. This healing process will be described through a detailed depiction of an analytic process introducing relaxation of technique, in a response by the analyst, to the patient's Orpha (self-protective) function. Responsiveness to the patient's implicitly or explicitly expressed needs, in the analytic space, may require a departure from standard technique for a deeper level of dynamic work where symbolization of unrepresented emotional experiences becomes possible.

Beating phantasies: Mourned and unmourned.

This paper intends to explore the organizing function and fate of sado-masochistic phantasies in their fixed form, in the psychic life of patients who have suffered early traumas, due to environmental vicissitudes and maternal psychopathology. The theoretical starting point is provided by the Novicks' research into transitory and permanent beating phantasies in adult and child patients, their onset and their psychic function, based on an examination of Freud's paper 'A child is being beaten'. In this text Freud achieves an unprecedented syncretism, locating the phantasy at the intersection between the oedipal complex, which is a vertical structure organizing sexual and generational differences, and the fraternal dimension, which is horizontal and organizes the lateral relationship with that similar but different other who is the sibling. Reporting in some detail material from the analyses of two young women, whose clinical presentation and early traumas show some similarities, the author puts in the context of the analytic work the emerging of the sado-masochistic phantasies, emphasizing their use and function in the transference-countertransference interplay. The beating phantasies shore up a precarious sense of self, threatened with psychic depletion and death, in identification with the absent mother of early infancy. An overly close relationship with a sibling, experienced as a narcissistic double, compounds the clinical picture, to establish the triangle formed by the parent(s) and two children which features in the beating phantasy. Finally, the author explores the contribution of ameliorating factors, such as alternative identificatory figures, constitutional endowment and capacity for sublimation, to account for the different fate of the fixed beating phantasies.