The sense of the past

Psychoanalysis has made a singular contribution to our understanding of how we live with the past; most importantly, the concept of "deferred action" (it will become clear why I wish to retain the English translation) challenges the association of causality with a particular temporal direction, that is, the earlier-to-later direction of causal efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of "backwards causation" (as it were) based on an application of the theory of object-use to the problem of memory. I begin with some introductory comments on Winnicott's theory of object-use, before presenting clinical observations on a patient's emerging sense of the past. In the theoretical discussion that follows, I consider the problem of memory in light of the clinical example. A discussion of the continued importance of "deferred action" is presented together with the introduction of the concept of "reclamation" as a type of re-descriptive memory

Action (physics · Causality (physics · Causation · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Object (grammar · Psychoanalysis · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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  Open Access•Dana Birksted‐Breen•The International Journal of…•2003

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