The Analyst’s “Use” of Theory or Theories
The Play of Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8335155 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steven H Cooper (0009-0007-8575-6294, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 859-882 |
| Publication date | 2017-10-01 |
| 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 | 10.1177/0003065117737069 |
| PMID | 29134838 |
| OpenAlex | W2770794448 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 10 |
Two clinical vignettes demonstrate a methodological approach that guides the analyst’s attention to metaphors and surfaces that are the focus of different theories. Clinically, the use of different theories expands the metaphorical language with which the analyst tries to make contact with the patient’s unconscious life. Metaphorical expressions may be said to relate to each other as the syntax of unconscious fantasy (Arlow 1979). The unconscious fantasy itself represents a metaphorical construction of childhood experience that has persisted, dynamically expressive and emergent into adult life. This persistence is evident in how, in some instances, long periods of an analysis focus on translating one or a few metaphors, chiefly because the manifest metaphorical expressions of a central theme regularly lead to better understanding of an unconscious fantasy. At times employing another model or theory assists in a level of self-reflection about clinical understanding and clinical decisions. The analyst’s choice of theory or theories is unique to the analyst and is not prescriptive, except as illustrating a way to think about these issues. The use of multiple models in no way suggests or implies that theories may be integrated
Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Fantasy · Focus (optics) · Linguistics · Perspective (graphical) · Psychoanalysis · Syntax · Theme (computing) · Unconscious mind · Computer Science · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Psychological Testing and Assessment · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
The Analyst's Experience of the Depressive Position
The Concept of Interpretive Action
Countertransference Disclosure and the Conceptualization of Analytic Technique
Analyst Subjectivity, Analyst Disclosure, and the Aims of Psychoanalysis
Metaphor and the Psychoanalytic Situation
Clinical theory at the border(s)
Psychoanalysis
The Logic of Play in Psychoanalysis
Recent Contributions to the Theory of Defense Mechanisms
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,88 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |