Between emotion and cognition : the generative unconscious / Joseph Newirth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Newirth, Joseph.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychoanalysis.

Subjectivity.

Subconsciousness.

Civilization, Modern--21st century.

Civilization, Modern.

Physical Description:

xviii, 255 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Other Press, [2003]

Summary:

Modern individuals often enter analysis because of a feeling of hollowness--a deadened absence of aliveness, meaninglessness, and a sense of being alone in a world that seems otherwise exciting, engaging, and alive. Joseph Newirth believes that these feelings reflect a disease of modern man that can be traced to a failure in the development of subjectivity. Through a careful reading of theory and well-reasoned presentations of case material, Newirth vividly evokes the contemporary dilemma of the individual's lack of subjectivity. The author positions this lack of subjectivity as a failure in the development of the unconscious, an understanding that provides the foundation for the development of a two-person theory of the unconscious. Newirth proposes a neo-Kleinian model of the unconscious, the "generative unconscious" in contrast to the "repressed unconscious" of classical theory or the "relational unconscious" of interpersonal and relational theory. He defines the "generative unconscious" as a source of creativity, of apprehending and generating experience in terms of emotional meanings through the development of metaphors, transitional experiences, and poetic images.

Contents:

Introduction: Wrestling with the Demons of the Unconscious xiii

1. Failure in the Development of Subjectivity and the Creation of Meaning 1

Life Displaced onto the Video Screen 2

Changing Psychoanalytic Perspectives 4

Creating Meaning: The Symbol in Psychoanalytic Theory 7

The Kleinian View of Symbol Formation 9

Winnicott's and Bion's Views of Symbol Formation 11

Matte Blanco and the Creation of Meaning 13

Epistemological Perspectives 14

The Neo-Kleinian Perspective: Subjectivity and the Generative Unconscious 16

Clinical Illustration: The Dead Hero 18

2. Ego, Self, and Subject: The Person in Structural Theory and Clinical Practice 23

The Evolving Definition of the Person in Psychoanalysis 25

The Person as Ego 27

The Person as Self 30

The Person as Subject 37

A Comparison of Models: Who Spit in My Soup? 43

Clinical Illustration: The Phantom Penis 45

3. Psychic Reality, Omnipotence, and the Development of Subjectivity 49

Psychic Reality, Personal Responsibility, and Agency 51

Psychic Reality and Multiple Modes of Generating Experience 53

Psychic Reality, Grandiosity, and Omnipotence 57

Clinical Illustration: The Hidden Assassins 66

4. Projection, Identification, and Enactment 71

Introduction: From Instinct to Unconscious Fantasy 71

Freud, the Schreber Case, and the Concept of Projection 73

Projection, Introjection, and Enactment 78

Projective Identification, Enactment, and Clinical Process 83

Interpretation, Enactment, and Projective Identification 85

Introjective Identification and Enactment 88

Clinical Illustration: The Wings of Icarus 93

5. Power in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: Symmetrical, Complementary, Metacomplementary 97

The Paranoid-Schizoid Position: From Death Instinct to Power 99

Passive and Active Organizations of the Paranoid-Schizoid Position 102

Destructiveness, Aggression, and Power in the Development of Identity 104

Powerlessness and the Passive Paranoid Position 105

Identification and the Paranoid Position 108

Power in the Psychoanalytic Relationship 111

Bion and the Development of Symmetry in the Analytic Relationship 116

Clinical Illustration: A Confusion of Tongues 118

6. The Paranoid Position and the Development of Symbolic Thought 125

The Creation of Meaning 125

Concrete Thought and the Paranoid Position 127

The Capacity for Symbolic Thought 130

Symbol Formation and the Psychoanalytic Process 132

Models of Symbolic Experience 134

Clinical Illustrations: Oscillations Between Concrete and Symbolic Experience 136

7. Transitional Experience and the Development of Symbolic Thought 141

Klein, Bion, and Winnicott: A Theory of Thinking 141

Winnicott's Clinical and Theoretical Approach 145

Enactment and Transitional Experience 150

Clinical Application of Transitional Phenomena 152

Clinical Illustration: The Greedy Analyst 157

8. The Unconscious and Interpretation 165

Interpersonal and Relational Approaches to Unconscious Experience 166

The Unconscious in Klein, Winnicott, and Bion 171

Dimensions of Unconscious Experience 173

Matte Blanco: A Mathematical Model of Conscious and Unconscious Experience 175

Clinical Illustration: All Men Are Exploiting Capitalists 178

A Neo-Kleinian Model of Thinking 180

Psychic Tranformation: Words, Reverie, and Symbol Formation 184

9. The Pathology of Consciousness: Asymmetry and Failure in the Development of Subjectivity 187

Psychic Transformation 188

Clinical Illustration of Asymmetrical and Symmetrical Psychoanalytic Strategies 191

The Pathology of Consciousness: A Study of Masochism and Subjectivity 197

Interpretations of Masochism 200

A Neo-Kleinian Interpretive Approach to Masochism 202

10. The Subject of the Unconscious 209

Subjectivity in Contemporary Psychoanalysis 210

The Phenomenological Subject 212

The Dialectical Subject 219

The Generative Subject 225

Clinical Illustration: Lost in Space 228

Conclusion: The Subject of the Generative Unconscious 231.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [235]-246) and index.

ISBN:

1590510402

OCLC:

51810514