Thoughts About Early Pathology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8334698 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Annemarie P Weil (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1985 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 335-352 |
| Publication date | 1985-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/000306518503300203 |
| PMID | 4020027 |
| OpenAlex | W2053231319 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 20 |
In this paper, I have presented the assumption that some symptom pictures such as attachment to pain, the masochistic character, the negative therapeutic reaction, a basic depressive response, and anhedonia are rooted in a prevalence of organismic distress during the symbiotic phase. Neuroscientists taught us that early experiences are associated with the neuronal structuring of the developing brain, which then affects concurrent or subsequent reactions. In particular I followed Ginsburg's (1982) assumption of a neuronally, genetically given aggressive drive potential which influences and is influenced by early experiences, and which can interact with other gene potentials. In some patients aggressive drive components contributed to a less than harmonious basic core associated with failure of the early infant/mother interaction. Unpleasure prevailed during the symbiotic phase; aggressive energies predominated and enmeshed with the neuronal encoding, the early structuralization in both the neurophysiological and psychological meaning. Thus, the structuring of the function of internalization and the emerging self-object experience were disturbed from early on. This then continued to foster a proclivity for unstable (fusion and) diminished neutralization tendencies. As biological discharge phenomena evolve into vague psychological awareness, such an infant does not attain a sense of well-being, but rather attains a sense of "not-well-being" (Joffe and Sandler, 1965) which remains continuous or can be triggered--kindled--by any reactivating constellation, and the object is experienced as a source of unpleasure. This is in line with Mahler's bad mother and bad self-introjects. Primary narcissism has not evolved well or, said differently, is invested more with aggressive than with libidinal cathexis and is in an unfortunate association or balance with primary masochism. Aggressive drive components subsequently color fantasies, readiness for and severity of conflicts. The aggressivization of self-feelings and of the function of internalization with its influence on--and exacerbation of--the rapprochement crisis is traced into later symptomatology. The basic pathology as described in this paper then compounds the oedipally derived problems
Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Distress · Meaning (existential) · Narcissism · Object (grammar) · Psychoanalysis · Psychology of self · Psychotherapist · Self · Biofield Effects and Biophysics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology
The origins of intelligence in children.
Freud's Conception of the Negative Therapeutic Reaction, with Comments on Instinct Theory
On Some Psychodynamics of Masochism
Rapprochement Subphase of the Separation-Individuation Process
Wrist Scratching as a Symptom of Anhedonia
Masochism — A Defense Reaction of the Ego
Notes on a Theory of Depression
Varieties Of Negative Therapeutic Reaction And Problems Of Technique
Maturational Variations and Genetic-Dynamic Issues
Toward the Biology of the Depressive Constellation
Negative Therapeutic Reaction
On Attachment to Painful Feelings and the Negative Therapeutic Reaction
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1987 - 2003 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |