The Reality Principle, Tragic Knots, and the Analytic Process

Bibliographic Data

ID8335243
AuthorsRoy Schafer (Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume55
Issue4
Pages1151-1168
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000306510705500403
PMID18246757
OpenAlexW2047601962
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited12

Civilization and Its Discontents is shown to occupy a special place in Freud's development of psychoanalytic theory and technique. Especially emphasized is its implications for an inclusive understanding of the reality principle. The concept tragic knots is then defined and used to emphasize Freud's readiness to include tragic elements in that principle. An extended section then illustrates the spread of tragic knots into several diverse aspects of human existence: victimization, intimacy, and maintaining privacy. Finally, implications are drawn for the clinical assessment of working through unconscious conflicts

Civilization · Epistemology · Political science · Process (computing) · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Unconscious mind · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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