A Mind of One's Own: A Kleinian View of Self and Object (New Library of Psychoanalysis)

This collection of papers, written over the last six years by Robert Caper, focuses on the importance of distinguishing self from object in psychological development. Robert Caper demonstrates the importance this psychological disentanglement plays in the therapeutic effect of psychoanalysis. In doing so he demonstrates what differentiates the practice of psychoanalysis from psychotherapy; while psychotherapy aims to ease the patient towards "good mental health" through careful suggestion; psychoanalysis allows the patient to discover him/herself, with the self wholly distinguished from other people and other objects. Book Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 13 Preface......Page 14 1 Introduction......Page 16 2 Psychoanalysis and suggestion: reflections on James Stratchey's 'The nature of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis'......Page 24 3.1 Introduction......Page 34 3.2 Projective identification in the analytic process......Page 35 3.3 Origins of the analyst’s need to cure......Page 38 3.4 The emotional difficulties of psychoanalysis for the analyst......Page 39 3.5 The psychoanalyst as a real object......Page 41 3.6 Technical considerations......Page 43 3.7 Conclusion......Page 44 4.1 Introduction......Page 46 4.2 The interplay of transference and countertransference......Page 48 4.3 Clinical examples......Page 49 4.4.1 Strachey’s ‘auxiliary superego’......Page 50 4.4.2 The group superego......Page 52 4.4.3 The superego and containment......Page 53 4.5 Conclusion......Page 57 5.1 Introduction......Page 58 5.2 Evidence of psychoanalysis......Page 60 5.2.1 Isolation within an intimate relationship......Page 61 5.2.2. The aesthetic conflict......Page 64 5.3 Psychic reality......Page 67 5.4 Discussion......Page 69 6.1 Psychic reality......Page 72 6.2 Transference......Page 73 6.3 Clinical example......Page 75 6.4 Transference analysis......Page 78 6.5 Analysis of the archaic superego......Page 79 7.1 Primitive mental states......Page 82 7.2 Abnormal mental states and the failure to learn from experience......Page 84 7.3 Unconscious delusions and unconscious phantasies......Page 85 7.4 Clinical illustration......Page 86 7.5 A theoretical fallacy......Page 88 7.6 Psychoanalytic reconstruction......Page 90 7.7 Summary and conclusions......Page 93 8.1 Introduction......Page 96 8.2 Playing and experimentation......Page 97 8.3 Experimental play in psychoanalysis......Page 98 8.4 Experimental disasters in psychotic states......Page 100 8.5 Experimentation and sexuality......Page 101 8.6 Symbol formation and creativity......Page 102 8.7 Conclusion......Page 104 9.1 Unconscious conceptions......Page 106 9.2 Paranoid-schizoid internal objects......Page 109 9.3 Depressive internal objects......Page 111 9.4 Clinical example......Page 114 9.6 The internal world and the Oedipus complex......Page 116 10.1 Introduction......Page 120 10.1.1 Narcissistic aspects of the transference......Page 121 10.1.2 Non-narcissistic aspects of the transference......Page 125 10.1.3 Oedipal aspects of the transference......Page 126 10.2 Clinical illustration......Page 127 10.3 Discussion......Page 132 11.1 Introduction......Page 136 11.2 Alpha elements......Page 137 11.3 Beta elements......Page 139 11.4 Beta elements and countertransference......Page 142 12.1.1 Freudian repression and Kleinian splitting and projection......Page 146 12.1.2 The theory of the container......Page 149 12.1.3 Urgent and aggressive projective identification......Page 150 12.1.5 Synthetic alpha function......Page 152 12.1.6 The role of unconscious phantasy in the sense of reality......Page 153 12.2 Anti-alpha function......Page 154 12.3 Analytic alpha function......Page 155 12.4 Clinical illustrations......Page 156 12.5 Containment, security and insecurity......Page 160 Bibliography......Page 162 Index......Page 168 This collection of papers, written over the last six years by Robert Caper, focuses on the importance of psychological development of distinguishing self from object, and the central role that this difficult psychological disentanglement plays in the therapeutic effect of psychoanalysis. In doing so, the author explains what differentiates the practice of psychoanalysis from psychotherapy; while psychotherapy aims to ease the client towards "good mental health" through careful suggestion and manipulation of the client's character, psychoanalysis attempts the more radical task of allowing the client to discover who he/she is and isn't. In particular, it seeks to allow the client to see the internal and external reality, clear of fantasies, with the self wholly distinguished from other people and other objects. 1. Introduction -- 2. Psychoanalysis And Suggestion: Reflections On James Strachey's 'the Nature Of The Therapeutic Action Of Psychoanalysis' -- 3. Does Psychoanalysis Heal? A Contribution To The Theory Of Psychoanalytic Technique -- 4. On The Difficulty Of Making A Mutative Interpretation -- 5. What Is A Clinical Fact? -- 6. Psychic Reality And The Analysis Of Transference -- 7. Psychopathology And Primitive Mental States -- 8. Play, Creativity And Experimentation -- 9. Internal Objects -- 10. A Mind Of One's Own -- 11. On Alpha Function -- 12. A Theory Of The Container. Robert Caper. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This collection of papers by Robert Caper focuses on the importance of distinguishing self from object in psychological development. By achieving this mental distinction the patient then benefits from the therapeutic effects of psychoanlaysis This book is based on a series of papers written over the past six years.