The Psychoanalytic quarterly
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The systematic terms of metapsychology expressed in Freud's theory of oedipal guilt have overshadowed his emergent ideas about preoedipal internal objects and preoedipal guilt. This article reconstructs the latent theory of preoedipal guilt in his notions of narcissism, fantasy, aggression, and ambivalence. Special attention is devoted to his discussions of the narcissistic function of creating fantasized objects through identificatory processes, in order to compensate for loss or disturbances in object relating. Although Freud put forward the notion of oedipal guilt as a derivative of secondary mental processes, he intuitively grasped that guilt emerges from the conflict-bound sphere of preoedipal relations. "A Child Is Being Beaten" is used as an illustration, as are clinical examples drawn from the author's practice.
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A form of pathological internal object relationship is described that timelessly perpetuates the infant's subjective experience of the mother's difficulty in recognizing and responding to her infant's internal state. The individual identifies with both the mother and the infant in this internal object relationship and experiences intense anxiety and despair in relation to his efforts at knowing what he is feeling and therefore of knowing who he is. Substitute formations are utilized to create the illusion that the individual knows what he feels.
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Creativity serves not only an aesthetic function but also psychological self-repair for the creative artist. The authors examine the failure of Sylvia Plath's efforts to control her suicidal violence and to bridge her isolation from others via the shared affective experience of poetry. ⋯ They were no longer available to her when she underwent a sweeping narcissistic regression following some very stressful life events. Her emotional deterioration ultimately cost her her life.
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The fantasy of life after death is universal, and every culture attempts to deal with concepts of resurrection and rebirth. In the past, these fantasies have dealt with religious and symbolic meanings, but cardiac resuscitation and cardiac surgery have introduced a new dimension: the patients' concept that they die in reality and are reborn or resurrected. ⋯ Case history vignettes were presented, showing how these fantasies of death and resurrection can influence patients' ability to undergo necessary surgery. It was suggested that the idea of rebirth indicates starting life anew without blemish, whereas resurrection fantasies involve having another chance to live but with the same defective body.
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The recent ego-psychological approach to form in art is utilized to understand the significance of form creation to artistic creativity in general. Two kinds of form in art are discussed--"good form" and "perfect form". The first is explained as the means used by the artist's ego to facilitate the expression and communication of latent meanings; the second, as the means used by the artist's ego to order disparate mental elements and to reconcile those opposite wishes, ideas, and emotions, whose opposite valences may endanger the integrity and cohesion of the self. In line with the assumptions presented in the paper, creativity and neurosis are described as two different methods used by the ego to solve the same underlying problems.