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Biomedical subjects

A H Modell

Publications and source records attributed to A H Modell.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

The synergy of memory, affects and metaphor.

Recently, the concept of metaphor has been revitalized as a result of the convergence of interest in this subject from a variety of disciplines including neurobiology, linguistics and cognitive science. Metaphor is now viewed as an emergent property of mind. Metaphor is rooted in the body in two senses: metaphor is used to organize bodily sensation cognitively, especially affects, and secondly, metaphor is rooted in the body as it rests on the border between mind and brain. Metaphor is therefore viewed as a developmentally early, primitive mental function related to synesthesia. There is a significant distinction between frozen or foreclosed metaphors and open and generative metaphors. The foreclosed metaphor will dominate the perception of others in cases of trauma and can be understood as an explanation of transference repetition. Clinical examples of foreclosed metaphors are illustrated by vignettes of patients who have suffered traumas. Examples taken from two artists are used to illustrate instances in which the artist's own unassimilated experiences appear as generative metaphors.

Affect↗
PubMed1991

A confusion of tongues or whose reality is it?

In a 1933 paper Ferenczi implied that conflict between the adult's and the child's construction of reality is traumatic for the child. As all individuals construct their own view of reality, it is inevitable that there will be conflicting constructions between child and adult--and between analyst and analysand. This may be biologically rooted; recent ethological studies suggest that parent-child conflict is ubiquitous because of a divergence of needs. When a child perceives a marked divergence between his or her construction of reality and that of the caretaker, the child may tend to reject the information proffered by the caretaker. This may appear later as a resistance to learning from the analyst. The divergence of needs between child and caretaker may have a profound influence on the child's cognitive development. The capacity to share other constructions of reality is a developmental achievement which may be facilitated by the psychoanalytic process.

Child↗
PubMed1988

The centrality of the psychoanalytic setting and the changing aims of treatment. A perspective from a theory of object relations.

The psychoanalytic setting, which includes the bond between analysand and analyst, is the foundation of psychoanalytic treatment. This object tie, although in the here and now, and "real", is demarcated from ordinary life and can be thought of as existing within a different level of reality. The psychoanalytic setting is subject to symbolic transformations that enable non-specific developmental conflicts to be worked through. I have described this transformation as the "dependent/containing transference," which I have compared and contrasted to the highly variegated and specific "iconic" transference (transference neurosis). This view of the psychoanalytic setting leads the analyst to pay special attention to problems of entrustment and safety and to the communicative process that regulates the closeness and distance between the two participants.

Communication↗
PubMed1981

Does metapsychology still exist?

Metapsychology has been under attack from two principal directions: from those who believe that metapsychology is no longer congruent with observations; and from those who see metapsychology as irrelevant, as they no longer share Freud's belief that psychoanalysis is a form of natural science. In addition there is no shared agreement as to the definition of metapsychology itself. The author observes three different functions of metapsychology: a selection of psychological phenomena that could be termed universal in the sense that they are characteristic of the human species; secondly a set of assumptions upon which a psychological system can be founded and made explicit; and thirdly metapsychology functions as a modelling device, an imaginary entity, an experiment in thinking. When we refer to metapsychology we are not describing a single entity but a broad heading that contains at least these three distinct functions. We believe that psychoanalysis is a unique discipline in that it shares with the hermeneutic disciplines the use of empathy as a mode of observation, viewing man from the inside, but subjects these observations to the organizing functions of metapsychology which views man from the outside. It is characteristic of psychoanalysis that there are rapid shifts from the I-Thou (empathic identification) to the I-It (naturalist observer) position. For this reason psychoanalysis cannot be fitted into any ready made epistemology. Any attempt to replace metapsychology by action theory or by the organizing principles of the structure of language are announcements of programmes yet to be realized and there is reason to doubt whether such programmes are realizable. There are, however, empiric discrepancies which require a modification but not the elimination of metapsychology. Our newer observations of narcissistic character disorders, especially the mirroring function, suggest that maturation is not necessarily equated with internalization - that a "fitting in" front the environment remains an adult requirement and is not necessarily the persistence of something infantile. So that the ego and its relation to the human environment is not a closed system. The task of contemporary metapsychology is to encompass this newer knowledge from the narcissistic disorders without "reifying' a system of "internalized' objects or returning to a simplistic theory of "interpersonal relationships'. Metapsychology needs to be modified but not abandoned.

Ego↗
PubMed1980

Affects and their non-communication.

The non-communication of affects is the most evident form of defence in a certain group of narcissistic patients. This non-communication of affects may take the direct form of a state of non-relatedness or may be disguised as the communication of false affects or affects that serve the function of inducing corresponding feelings in the object. We have examined in detail the motives for this non-communication and its implications for a more general theory of affects. Although the motives are variegated we have observed the recurrent wish to control omnipotently the affects of others. We have understood the induction of dysphoric affects in the transference and countertransference as the wish to recreate actively what has been experienced passively. It is an attempt to bring the trauma arising from the external world into the internal world and thus to create an illusion of mastery and control. This is analogous to Freud's description of the child's game in 'Beyond the pleasure principle".

Adult↗
PubMed1975

A narcissistic defence against affects and the illusion of self-sufficiency.

A narcissistic defence against affects, unlike isolation, is a defence against an object relationship. Object relations are strengthened by the sharing of genuine affects so that the failure to share feelings or the presentation of false feelings creates distance between the self and other objects. The defence is similar to that of denial in that it entails a modification of the ego's own structure. We have suggested that this modification consists of a precocious but fragile establishment of a sense of self. The defence may occupy a sector of the personality or reflect a more massive structural arrest. When there is this structural arrest, we believe that this narcissistic defence forms the basis for the narcissistic character disorder described by Kohut and the false self of Winnicott. This precocious sense of self leading to an illusion of self-sufficiency may also be found in other disorders, including the borderline patient, but the borderline patient, in contrast, suffers from a failure of internalization which leads to object hunger in contrast to the denial of object need of the narcissistic disorder. We suspect that the environmental trauma that may contribute to the narcissistic disorder is less severe as compared to the borderline states and may consist of the mother's failure to accept the child's separateness and autonomy, resulting in a fear of the mother's intrusiveness. The fear of the maternal object's intrusiveness contributes to the relative inability to form a therapeutic alliance in the psychoanalysis of narcissistic character disorders. The analyst's interpretations are experienced as dangerous, not necessarily because of their content but due to the fear of the analyst's intrusive influence. Our understanding of the means of effecting therapeutic change must be modified in patients with narcissistic character disorders for, in contrast to the 'classical' neurotic, analytic progress is not obtained by means of interpreting the transference neurosis in the context of a working or therapeutic alliance. Although we acknowledge that the psychoanalysis of narcissistic disorders can lead to significant therapeutic gains, such analyses may prove to be interminable if the gains do not also result in the establishment of a transference neurosis and therapeutic alliance.

Affect↗