Metamorphoses of Psyche in Psychoanalysis and Ancient Greek Thought : From Mourning to Creativity

This unusual book explores the transformative power of liminal experiences in ancient Greek texts, psychoanalytic theory, and the author’s own life, to demonstrate how a contemporary understanding of ancient thought can illuminate modern psychoanalytic theory and practice especially as it relates to trauma, grief, and the development of psyche. With the understanding that liminal experiencing involves engaging a psychic space outside the boundaries of ego organization, Dobson artfully interweaves autobiography, literary analysis, philosophical ontology, and psychoanalysis, to formulate a new paradigm for how to construct human beings, how to enliven and deepen personal and therapeutic experience, and how poetic language is the gateway to this magical realm of transformation. Alongside richly detailed case analyses, the author uses her dual expertise in psychoanalysis and ancient Greek literature to explore how the maternal and liminal in human life were displaced with the rise of Athens and a new way of being human ― the rational citizen ― and how this repression has resulted in diminished, constricted experiencing and the suppression of women throughout western history. With a deep understanding of classical literature and psychoanalysis, and extensive clinical insights, this is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, classicists, and historians wishing to understand how ancient thought and modern psychoanalysis can interact. This unusual book explores the transformative power of liminal experiences in ancient Greek texts, psychoanalytic theory, and the authorâ••s own life, to demonstrate how a contemporary understanding of ancient thought can illuminate modern psychoanalytic theory and practice especially as it relates to trauma, grief, and the development of psyche.With the understanding that liminal experiencing involves engaging a psychic space outside the boundaries of ego organization, Dobson artfully interweaves autobiography, literary analysis, philosophical ontology, and psychoanalysis, to formulate a new paradigm for how to construct human beings, how to enliven and deepen personal and therapeutic experience, and how poetic language is a gateway to this magical realm of transformation. Alongside richly detailed case analyses, the author uses her dual expertise in psychoanalysis and ancient Greek literature to explore how the maternal and liminal in human life were displaced with the rise of Athens and a new way of being human â•• the rational citizen â•• and how this repression has resulted in diminished, constricted experiencing and the suppression of women throughout western history.With a deep understanding of classical literature and psychoanalysis, and extensive clinical insights, this is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, classicists, and historians wishing to understand how ancient thought and modern psychoanalysis can interact. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Information 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Preface by Series Editor 11 Author’s Preface 13 Acknowledgments 16 Part I A Search for the Self Through Liminal Experiences 18 Chapter 1 Introduction 20 1.1 The Nature of Liminal and Imaginal Experiences 20 Reference 33 Chapter 2 An Autobiographical Case Study 34 2.1 Helen Flanders Dunbar 34 2.2 Childhood 36 2.3 Post-WW II Years (1946–57) 40 2.4 Catastrophe 44 2.5 Professional Challenges 46 References 51 Chapter 3 Dreams and Transitional Experiences: Klein, Winnicott, and Kohut 52 3.1 D.W. Winnicott 55 3.2 Melanie Klein 60 3.3 Heinz Kohut 62 References 65 Chapter 4 Transpersonal and Transformational Space: The Archetypal Great Mother and the Maternal Idiom 66 4.1 C.G. Jung 67 4.2 Erich Neumann 68 4.3 Michael Eigen 72 4.4 Christopher Bollas 73 References 79 Chapter 5 Radiance, Mourning, and Creativity 81 5.1 Melancholia and Radiance 81 5.2 Two Psychotherapies: Classical and Winnicottian 84 5.2.1 Dr. B. 84 5.2.2 Dr. G. 85 5.3 A Self Psychological Analysis With Ernest S. Wolf 90 5.2.1 Process in the Analysis 92 5.2.1 Idealization 95 5.2.2 Mirroring and Twinship 96 5.2.3 Falling in Love 97 5.2.4 Reading Through Dreams 97 5.2.5 Termination 98 5.2.6 Liminal and Imaginal in Psychoanalysis 99 5.2.7 Empathy 101 5.2.8 Wolf’s Adversarial Transference 102 5.2.9 Death 103 5.4 From Mourning to Creativity: New Versions of Mourning 104 5.5 Incorporating the Greeks Into a New Vision of Selfhood 109 Note 113 References 113 Part II Archaic Permeability and Psychic Transformation in Greek Epic Poetry and Tragedy 116 Chapter 6 The Archaic Greek Heroic Psyche 118 6.1 Introduction 118 6.2 The Heroic Body 119 6.3 Gods and Heroes as Individuals? 125 6.4 Heroic Stability 129 References 133 Chapter 7 The Heroic Psyche: A Model for a Contemporary Self? 135 7.1 The Psychological Development of Culture 136 7.1.1 Jane Ellen Harrison 138 7.2 Homeric Heroes and Matricentrism 147 7.3 Conclusion 151 References 152 Chapter 8 The Birth of the Subject in Aeschylus 154 8.1 From Epic to Drama 154 8.2 Ritual Origins of Greek Tragedy 155 8.3 Aeschylus’ Oresteia 159 8.3.1 Omens and Ambivalence: The First Chorus 167 8.3.2 Intimations of Will in the Agamemnon 176 8.3.3 Cassandra: The Move From Symbol to Symptom 178 8.4 Orestes and Melanie Klein 179 References 188 Chapter 9 Heroic Catastrophes and Matricentric Coherences 189 9.1 Introduction 189 9.2 Brittle Heroes 192 9.3 Matricentric Coherences and Relational Being: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter 201 References 213 Part III Case Studies: Myth and Psychoanalysis 216 Chapter 10 Imaginal Psyche in Psychotherapy 218 10.1 Mary 218 10.2 Liza 220 10.3 Amanda 229 10.4 Heidegger, Soul, and the Liminal 240 References 243 Chapter 11 Psychoanalysis as Metamorphosis 245 11.1 Reclaiming the Mythic Depths of Human Experience 245 11.1.1 Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Clinical Diagnoses 248 11.1.2 C.G. Jung’s Coniunctio 252 References 256 Chapter 12 Concluding Thoughts 257 References 259 Bibliography 260 Index 272 Ancient;,and;,Creativity;,Dobson;,From;,Greek;,in;,Marcia;,Metamorphoses;,Mourning;,of;,Psyche;,Psychoanalysis;,Thought;,to Ancient,and,Creativity,Dobson,From,Greek,in,Marcia,Metamorphoses,Mourning,of,Psyche,Psychoanalysis,Thought,to "This unusual book explores the transformative power of liminal experiences in ancient Greek texts, psychoanalytic theory, and the author's own life, to demonstrate how a contemporary understanding of ancient thought can illuminate modern psychoanalytic theory and practice especially as it relates to trauma, grief, and the development of psyche. With the understanding that liminal experiencing involves engaging a psychic space outside the boundaries of ego organization, Dobson artfully interweaves autobiography, literary analysis, philosophical ontology, and psychoanalysis, to formulate a new paradigm for how to construct human beings, how to enliven and deepen personal and therapeutic experience, and how poetic language is the gateway to this magical realm of transformation. Alongside richly detailed case analyses, the author uses her dual expertise in psychoanalysis and ancient Greek literature to explore how the maternal and liminal in human life were displaced with the rise of Athens and a new way of being human-the rational citizen-and how this repression has resulted in diminished, constricted experiencing and the suppression of women throughout western history. With a deep understanding of classical literature and psychoanalysis, and extensive clinical insights, this is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, classicists, and historians wishing to understand how ancient thought and modern psychoanalysis can interact"-- Provided by publisher