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PubMed1985

Alexithymia and the split brain. III. Global-level content analysis of fantasy and symbolization.

8 commissurotomy patients and 8 precision-matched normal control subjects were shown a 3-min videotaped film about death. Content analysis of the subjects' spoken and written responses to this film was carried out on the global, interpretive level, for 2 fantasy and 4 symbolization variables. Commissurotomy patients were found to be significantly more alexithymic than normal controls for 3 of the symbolization variables, for factor-analytic measures of fantasy and symbolization, and for an over-all measure of alexithymia derived from these 2 factors and lexical-level and sentential-level measures of alexithymia.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1977

Play, fantasy, and symbols: drama with emotionally disturbed children.

This paper discusses the developmental continuum of play and its relationship to drama. The functions of drama therapy as a form of child psychotherapy are illustrated through case material, focusing on wish fulfillment, psychic integration, reenactment of past traumatic experiences, transformation from passivity to activity, separation of fantasy and reality, fusion with the idealized or hated parent, defense and mastery. The value of drama therapy is not only in the abreaction it provides, but in the chance to articulate the fantasies through play, experience the working through of the conflicts, and connect the past to the present.

Abreaction↗
PubMed2005

The impossibility of forgiveness: shame fantasies as instigators of vengefulness in Euripides' Medea.

Unforgivability in Euripides' Medea is explored in the context of intrapsychic forces favoring disruption and narcissistic withdrawal and precluding the influence of forces favoring repair of bonds, not necessarily to the betrayer, but to the social and moral order. The forces underlying disruption and withdrawal operate to such an extent that forgiveness and cooperation with the social order become impossible. Euripides' literary insights are explored with the purpose of deepening and extending the psychoanalytic understanding of shame, shame fantasies, projective identification, and vengefulness as they bear on the problem of forgiveness. Three types of shame fantasy are pertinent to the transformation of Medea's mental state from one of anguished and disjointed shame to diabolical vengefulness: anticipatory paranoid shame, the projective identification of shame, and withdrawal as a defense against shame.

Drama↗
PubMed2005

Playing dead: an unconscious fantasy, bodily focused defenses, and their roots in infancy.

A patient's unconscious fantasy of being her mother's dead baby emerged during the course of a long analysis, and was understood as her expression and explanation, constructed and elaborated throughout her development, of a fundamental and formative early infant state and experience. This patient's identification with a baby who had died before she was born was connected to her major complaint, a pervasive feeling that she could not act with intention, and to her obsessive ruminations, compulsive actions, and masochistic attacks on her body. The bodily based aspects and focus of these defenses were autistic-like, self-directed activities that can be understood as having their roots in what was experienced as catastrophic loss in the earliest weeks and months of life. Infant research, particularly on contingency detection, is especially useful in clarifying the ways in which these defenses may form, and in reconstructing and tracing the trajectories and intricate transformations of body ego, self- and other representations, and defenses from their earliest beginnings to their current manifestations in patients' fantasies and symptoms.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Unconscious fantasy and theories of cure.

It has long been known that patients' wishes for cure by analysis give expression to unconscious wishes for instinctual gratification which originate in childhood mental life. Patients sometimes develop theories about how they believe analysis attains its ends; these are likely to affect the way they behave in the analytic situation, and analysis of them may therefore constitute an important contribution to progress in the analysis. Two illustrative cases are presented; in both, the unconscious determinants of the patients' theories turn out to be infantile sexual fantasies connected with their uncon scious wishes for instinctual satisfaction. It is further suggested that analogous unconscious fantasies also influence the theories of analysts and other therapists about how analysis works. In some instances these factors, while not affecting theory formation explicitly, may, without being recognized as doing so, contribute to decisions regarding the modification of analytic technique. Awareness of that possibility may aid analysts in assessing the indications for such proposed modifications.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Paranoia and beating fantasy: an inquiry into the psychoanalytic theory of paranoia.

Psychoanalytic contributions to the theory of paranoia are reviewed. As a primary problem underlying paranoia, this paper emphasizes the importance of beating fantasy associated with a fragile personality structure rather than the theory of repressed homosexuality. Castration anxiety and homosexual conflict may precipitate paranoia, but all levels of psychosexual development and their corresponding danger situations contribute to the transformed fantasy of persecution and punishment; early infantile narcissism, aggression, and sadomasochism are especially important. Severe preoedipal disturbance has contributed to deficient ego development and oedipal resolution. The failure to negotiate separation-individuation is associated with narcissistic arrest and impaired object relations and testing of reality. Ego integration, identity and sexual identity are unstable. Attempts at undoing, repair, or revenge of traumata and narcissistic injury and the maintenance of ego stability and (narcissistic) object relationship are more fundamental than homosexual object choice or the negative Oedipus complex in the understanding of paranoid psychopathology.

Fantasy↗
PubMed1981

Hypochondriacal symptoms as derivatives of unconscious fantasies of being beaten or tortured.

Clinical material is presented from two patients where hypochondriacal symptoms were seen to be derivatives of unconscious fantasies of being beaten or tortured. The shift along the masochistic axis from these underlying fantasies to the conscious hypochondriacal symptoms is seen as subserving the important defensive purpose of reducing the patients' perception of their conscious guilt feelings.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

On love, dying together and Liebestod fantasies.

The study of the legend of Tristan and Iseult in terms of the multiple fantasies it might express adds to our understanding of the psychology of love. In a previous paper (1975), I delineated, via allusion to the Tristan legend, the romantic-erotic conditions sometimes involved in creativity. In this one, I have approached the question of love from the other direction and have tried to delineate the creative-adaptive conditions required for integrating the experiences of loving and being in love. The "High tale of love and death," the Liebestod fantasy realized, is still with us, but the happier ending may be a realistic, viable alternative.

Fantasy↗
PubMed1984

Denial in fantasy and hypomania: an exploration.

There is a spectrum of normality and psychopathology in which we see the presence of denial in fantasy, action, and word. The underlying ego distortions, such as the overuse of a denying fantasy in reality testing, will determine the clinical appearance of this mechanism. Traumatic experiences in the first 18 months are a determining factor in the development of these ego distortions. Clinical material is presented that supports a theory of elation put forward by Lewin (1950) who suggests that denying elations are repetitions of childhood dreams with their adult elaborations. In Mrs. A., the denying elations occurred particularly when experiences of castration anxiety or object loss became intolerable.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Fact and fantasy in the seduction theory: a historical review.

This article surveys Freud's various versions of the seduction theory, from 1896 to 1933. It is concluded that the seduction theory had never been based on the patients' direct statements and conscious recall of seduction by the father in early childhood--unlike what Freud was to state much later (1933). This early seduction was mostly reconstructed by Freud from the patient's verbal material and behavior in treatment (including memories of sexual experiences from later childhood) which he interpreted as disguised and incomplete "reproductions" and reenactments of the original seduction trauma. Further, the external trauma was never meant to account by itself for the later neurotic symptoms. The "delayed action" of its unconscious memory, producing the repression of an event from the time of puberty, was a necessary part of the process. Thus internal psychic transformations and conflicts, anticipating Freud's later emphasis on fantasy and psychic reality, were already an intrinsic part of the seduction etiology of 1896. It is also noted that the father played no central role in the original theory as presented in 1896; it is only in the letters to Fliess that the father emerged as the prime seducer. The implications of this clarification of the seduction theory for the understanding of the changes and continuity in the development of Freud's theories are highlighted; their relevance to ongoing issues in psychoanalysis about the role of external trauma, fantasy, and reconstruction are briefly examined.

Austria↗
PubMed1988

Fantasy or structural defect? The borderline dilemma as viewed from analysis of an experience of nonhumanness.

The experience of nonhumanness, a crucial aspect of the phenomenal self of borderline states, is studied in two cases to test assumptions concerning the application of the classic ego-psychological or object-relations and self-psychological models. Are these experiences to be seen as fantasy and treated as manifest content, with dynamically active unconscious conflict and meaning, requiring interpretation, or as a developmental arrest in which structural disturbances are ameliorated through clarifying and empathic interventions? The first case is of a patient with a neurotic depression and hysterical and obsessional character traits, treated in a classic psychoanalysis. Even though dyadic oral and anal fantasies were strongly in evidence, the ego was well integrated. The second case is of a severe borderline patient who showed depressive panic and agoraphobia. Her major ego disturbances, poorly integrated and differentiated self- and object representations, and primitive defenses prevented effective psychoanalytically oriented treatment. Interventions were used to consolidate self-representations, internalize tension-regulating structures, promote adaptive ego functions and reality testing. These clarifications were necessary to move the patient to where she could tolerate facing unconscious dynamic conflicts. Only at that point could repression be lifted, memory emerge, and interpretation be utilized.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Unconscious fantasy: developmental and self-psychological considerations.

The authors view unconscious fantasy from the perspective of self psychology as a significant addition and emendation of the classical framework. A selective review of the pertinent literature is presented, followed by clinical material illustrating the contribution of self-psychological concepts to the understanding of unconscious fantasy formation.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1998

Unconscious pregnancy fantasies as an underlying dynamism in panic disorder.

Unconscious pregnancy fantasies are outlined as an underlying dynamic organizer to the panic experience in some patients with panic disorder. Detailed case material from the treatment of two childless panic patients, one male and one female (nonpregnant) is presented to illustrate this. A literature review found reports of nine nonpregnant patients, none exposed to a pregnant analyst, in whom these fantasies are described as central. Four of these patients had a psychiatric syndrome consistent with panic and agoraphobia. Some mechanisms that may underlie these connections are explored.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Relationship of purported measures of pathological and nonpathological dissociation to self-reported psychological distress and fantasy immersion.

In order to investigate both the psychometric structure of the Dissociative Experiences Survey (DES) and the discriminant validity of the DES-Taxon (Waller, Putnam, & Carlson, 1996) as a specific marker of pathological dissociation, 376 non-clinical community based respondents completed the DES and a battery of psychopathology and imaginative involvement self-report measures. The DES was scored for both the Taxon and the DES-Absorption subscale. A DES subscale purported to tap normative dissociative processes. The two DES subscales demonstrated substantial overlap, both with each other (r = .80) and with the self-report measures with both DES scales comparably associated with high levels of psychological distress. Both DES subscales were also associated with elevated levels of "normative" imaginative involvement (fantasy proneness, absorption, daydreaming immersion). We conclude that both DES scales are largely indistinguishable from each other in relation to other self-report measures of psychopathology and fantasy access.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Sexual aggressors' perceptions of effectiveness of strategies to cope with negative emotions and deviant sexual fantasies.

The aim of this study was to investigate sexual aggressors' perceptions of effectiveness of strategies to cope with high-risk situations and their reasons for not using the adaptive coping strategies they learned in treatment. A total of 32 sexual aggressors, incarcerated in a maximum security psychiatric institution, filled out the Coping Strategy Report daily for 2 months. A lack of will, ignorance, and an emotional disturbance were the most frequently reported reasons for not using adaptive coping strategies to deal with a negative mood, whereas anticipation of failure and emotional disturbance were most frequently reported with interpersonal conflicts. For deviant sexual fantasies, child molesters most frequently reported a lack of will and an anticipation of failure as justification for not using adaptive coping strategies, whereas sexual aggressors of women most frequently reported a lack of will and emotional disturbance. For negative moods and interpersonal conflicts, behavioral strategies, such as social skills, were reported to be the most effective. Cognitive strategies, such as covert sensitization, were reported to be most effective for coping with deviant sexual fantasies. Theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1975

Hostility measurement and its relationship to fantasy capacity.

Two-hundred and three male high school freshmen and sophomore students were administered a daydreaming questionnaire, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, and Rotter ISB. The latter was scored for hostility by the Renner, Maher, and Campbell method. The Subjects also rated one another on a sociometric scale measuring behavioral hostility. Subjects were divided into high and low fantasy groups. Analyses of variance were computed on the hostility measure data for 108 Subjects. The independent variables were obtained for the fantasy capacity measure and not for the peer rating measure. There was no positive correlation between the sociometric ratings and the hostility measures. In view of the results, the hostility measurement instruments are interpreted as measures of an individual's capacity to regard himself as hostile, rather than as measures of the actual hostility of his behavoir.

Aggression↗
PubMed1993

Rorschach adaptive fantasy images and coping in children under severe environmental stress.

We measured the relationship between the capacity of a group of inner-city, homeless children to produce adaptive fantasy images, as assessed by the Rorschach M+ score and their performance on the Fruit Distraction Test of selective attention and Rorschach measures of reality testing (extended F+ percentage) and object relations (Mutuality of Autonomy [MOA] Scale, Urist, 1977). The sample included 46 Black and Hispanic children (24 boys and 22 girls) who ranged in age from 5 to 13 years. Results from multiple regression analyses that also included age, intelligence, and gender as independent variables indicated that the M+ score accounted for the largest portion of the variance in the Fruit Distraction and MOA scores. The M+ score was also significantly positively correlated with the extended F+ percentage. The results suggest that children's capacity to withstand severe environmental stressors is linked to their ability to produce adaptive fantasy images on the Rorschach.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1982

Food fantasies of incarcerated drug users.

In a 1966 survey of food preference associations to narcotics, 47 incarcerated male addicts' actual as well as fantasied oral behaviour was studied. A significant preference was expressed for liquid and solid sweets in both the actual and fantasied experience during periods of abstinence. Retrospective, anecdotal reports indicate that the subjects' food preferences are psychologically determined and are chiefly related to infantile components in their personality makeup. The preference for sweets has the quality of a craving, and the substances consumed are thought of as yielding pleasurable effects resembling those of the drug. The hypothesis was substantiated that infantile hunger is the prototype of the adult's morbid craving and that food preferences reflect his type of early psychosexual need.

Adult↗