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Biomedical subjects

E Halpert

Publications and source records attributed to E Halpert.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

On lying and the lie of a toddler.

For most of its history, the psychoanalytic literature on lying dealt exclusively with the dynamic, genetic meanings of lying: the problems for treatment presented by a patient who lies, and the technique used in dealing analytically with lies. In recent decades, issues relating to the moral and general development of children in relation to lying have been considered. In this paper, a lie told by a 21-month-old child is used to raise and explore questions about lying and its relation to intrapsychic structure and development. It is suggested that cognitive abilities and the psychic apparatus have to develop to the point that self can be distinguished from object, and a superego prototype must be present, before the means and motivations for lying are in place. This would date the beginning of the capacity to lie to sixteen to twenty-four months of age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1994

Asclepius: magic in transference to physicians.

Transference to physicians contains a fantasy of the physician as omnipotent healer who can control life and death. While there may be many variations of the fantasy that reflect differences in individual psychological makeup and experience, the fantasy of a multipotentialed, bisexual figure who can magically control the forces of nature is probably an element in all transference wishes that occur in a therapeutic setting. Material from the myth of Asclepius, from a patient of Freud's, and from two of the author's patients will be examined to elucidate this transference fantasy.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Aspects of a dilemma of middle age: whether or not to place aged, failing parents in a nursing home.

A middle-aged person's involvement in making a decision about whether or not to institutionalize an aged parent whose physical and/or mental capacities have failed inevitably arouses intense feelings, memories, fantasies, and conflicts. Fantasies that equate putting the parent in a nursing home with abandonment and murder, as well as the narcissistic threat posed by seeing one's own future in a parent's deterioration, are common. The conflicts aroused may upset long-standing psychological balances. This paper explores ego, superego, id, and reality issues that are aroused as they were seen in the psychoanalysis and psychotherapy of several patients involved in making this decision. The importance of looking for the unique aspects of the conflicts set off in each individual facing this dilemma is stressed, as is the potential for countertransference responses.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Cardiac preoccupations.

The origins and development of mental representations of internal bodily organs are, in general, difficult to discern. This is so even in the case of an internal bodily organ such as the heart, which is more readily perceived than most other body organs since its beating can be felt and heard. It is even true in the case of individuals in whose psyche the heart comes to play an inordinately prominent role. It was so in the case presented in this paper, the case of a man who was preoccupied with the idea that he was going to die of a heart attack, as his father had. It required a great deal of analytic work to uncover some of the underlying conflict-laden factors which lay behind his cardiac preoccupations. Those conflicts and fantasies that were uncovered derived from many developmental layers, but seemed to be organized around a central bisexual conflict resulting from the threat of castration for both positive and negative oedipal wishes. The two main unconscious mental representations of the heart in his case were as an erect, pulsating penis and as a blood-filled vagina, although other representations such as a bloody anus also existed. A relatively accurate, realistic mental representation of the heart probably evolves slowly during the development of any individual and is probably always distorted somewhat by infantile unconscious concepts along the way. In a situation where a parent has had a cardiac illness, and particularly when this illness occurred during the individual's childhood, the mental representation of the heart can be even more distorted than usual by the developmental conflicts that are intensified by the parental illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Insurance.

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Confidentiality↗
PubMed1982

When the analyst is chronically ill or dying.

This is a study of the effects on the patient, the analyst, and the analytic process of chronic life-threatening illness in the analyst. The vicissitudes of the aggressive drive and its derivatives within the patient are studied in most detail. The analyst's use of denial and isolation, as well as his narcissistic withdrawal in such circumstances, is also illustrated. In addition, some of the practical technical issues which arise are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Referral to psychoanalytic candidates: a special problem in technique.

The technique of referral has been given scant attention in the analytic literature. Yet the method of referral, particularly to analytic candidates, can have a significant impact on the subsequent treatment. Listening to detailed case presentations by candidates over a four-year period in a course on selection of patients, it became apparent to me that when analysts referred patients to candidates they almost always avoided telling the patient that the analyst was in training. The reasons for the evasion and the consequences of it are explored in all three parties: the referring analyst, the patient, and the candidate. Clinical material from typical situations is presented to illustrate how evasions and distortions by the referring analyst can have a negative impact on the patient, the candidate, and the analysis. The suggestion is made that the referring analyst be open about the candidate's status, particularly when the patient is being seen at a reduced fee. As with any other situation, candor enhances the chances of success of the referral and subsequent analysis.

Adult↗