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Masturbation and sexual fantasies in married couples.

This article reports some aspects of sociosexual behavior, as a small part of an intensive study of 38 married couples. The persons' experiences and formulations are the primary material in an effort to humanize sexological research. This article reflects the Danish psychological-psychiatric tradition with emphasis on personal interviews instead of questionnaires, inventories, or tests. The analyses are based on differences between husband and wife and between men and women as groups. A number of qualitative thematic differences in personal experience with respect to masturbation and sexual fantasies are reported. Attention is drawn to thematic differences in the psychological significance of these aspects of sexuality which are, in part, dependent on the sex of the subject.

Attitude↗

Exploring the motivations and fantasies of strip club customers in relation to legal regulations.

Strip clubs are a popular form of adult entertainment in the contemporary United States. Strip clubs are also highly embattled entertainment venues, based on assumptions about their associations with prostitution, drug use, and "negative secondary effects" in surrounding areas, such as increased crime rates and decreased property values. Based on participant observation in five strip clubs in one city and on qualitative interviews with 30 regular male customers of those clubs, this essay seeks to challenge assumptions about the kinds of encounters sought in and purchased in such venues. Instead of visiting strip clubs out of a desire to purchase sexual release with the dancers, I found that the regular male customers were seeking an atmosphere different from both work and home, personal and sexual acceptance from women and the pleasure of a sexualized encounter without the pressures of physical performance, and a form of leisure that offered a relative degree of "safety" as well as "excitement." Further, the men's own fantasies of identity, their understandings of marriage, and their commitment to a particular kind of monogamy influenced their choice of entertainment and the pleasure that they took in their encounters with the dancers. The essay discusses these motivations and their relational aspects and assesses strip club regulation in light of these observations and findings.

Adult↗

Fantasy proneness, but not self-reported trauma is related to DRM performance of women reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.

Extending a strategy previously used by , we administered a neutral and a trauma-related version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm to a sample of women reporting recovered (n=23) or repressed memories (n=16) of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), women reporting having always remembered their abuse (n=55), and women reporting no history of abuse (n=20). We found that individuals reporting recovered memories of CSA are more prone than other participants to falsely recalling and recognizing neutral words that were never presented. Moreover, our study is the first to show that this finding even held when trauma-related material was involved. Correlational analyses revealed that fantasy proneness, but not self-reported traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms were related to false recall and false recognition.

Analysis of Variance↗

[Sexual fantasies and impotence. Apropos of 2 cases].

Sexual fantasies, drawn of the erotic memory that constitutes himself the long of the sexual history of each, are indispensable, for the good sexual working. Some authors tend to consider the imagination like a "veritable intra psychic erogenous zone". However, people who, for a reason or an another, persisted to avoid all sexual activity before the marriage and to separate all erotic velleity, don't they risk to have an erotic imaginary atrophied, who could sound negatively once on their sexual behaviour, after the marriage, when all is suddenly authorized for them? Through two clinical observations of secondary sexual impotence, we are going to try to show the ominous consequences of such a relentlessness (imposed by the education, the social morals or the religion), against sexual stimulation, on the sexuality. These consequences are more easily observable in men, of the fact of their active role, in the sexual activity. Our purpose is to insist on the necessity to explore the sexual history owing all sexual dysfunction, and to place it in the biographic setting of the impatient; but also and especially to attract the attention on the importance of a precocious sex education, adapted to age, to the personal maturation and the cultural and educational context.

Adult↗

Goal-directed fantasy, hypnotic susceptibility, and expectancies.

We conducted an initial screening session in which hypnosis was presented as a "test of imagination" and administered with other imagination measures. In a second session, we instructed high- and low-hypnotizable subjects to imagine along with suggestions but to resist responding to motoric suggestions. Subjects received either instructions to use goal-directed fantasies (GDFs) or no facilitative instructions. Sizable individual difference effects were secured. Hypnotizable subjects exhibited more suggestion-related movements and reported greater involuntariness than did low-hypnotizable subjects. With GDF instructions, low- and high-hypnotizable subjects reported equivalent GDF absorption and frequencies. However, hypnotizable subjects exhibited greater responsiveness and reported greater involuntariness than did those low in hypnotizability, even when their GDFs were equivalent. Thus, no support was generated for the hypotheses that sustained, elaborated suggestion-related imagery mediates response to suggestion (Arnold, 1946) or that absorption in suggestions is of particular importance for low-hypnotizable subjects (Zamansky & Clark, 1986). Our finding that measures of response expectancy paralelled responding and reports of nonvolition support the hypothesis that expectancies mediate the relation between imagination, involuntariness, and responding (Kirsch, 1985; Spanos, 1982). Hypnotizable imagining subjects in the study discussed here exhibited greater responsiveness than a comparable sample of subjects did in a previous countersuggestion study (Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Stanley, 1983) in which no attempt was made to foster an association between imagining and involuntary responding in the initial screening session.

Adult↗

Fantasy proneness, dissociation, and DSM-IV axis II symptomatology.

Scores on the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (S. C. Wilson & T. X. Barber, 1981) identified fantasizers and controls who were administered the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV; B. Pfohl, N. Blum, & M. Zimmerman, 1994) and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; E. M. Bernstein & F. W. Putnam, 1986). Fantasizers had increased rates of Cluster A and B personality disorders but were equivalent to controls in Cluster C diagnoses. For both Clusters A and B, 55% of the fantasizers received clinical diagnoses. Fantasizers had significantly higher DES, DES-T (N. G. Waller, F. W. Putnam, & E. B. Carlson, 1996), and Normal Dissociative Index scores. Although nearly one half of the fantasizers' DES-T patterns were classified within the pathological dissociative taxon (N. G. Waller & C. A. Ross, 1997), none of the controls and only 10.03% of the original screening sample received this classification. Both Axis II pathology and pathological dissociation were associated with fantasy proneness.

Adolescent↗

The impact of unstructured games of fantasy and role playing on an inpatient unit for adolescents.

Games of fantasy and role playing such as Dungeons and Dragons (1983) have become increasingly popular among adolescents and young adults. This article reviews the negative impact of such games on an adolescent inpatient treatment setting. The unrestricted play of such games contributed to the disruption of a treatment setting, resistances to treatment, reinforcement of character pathology, disruption of individual treatments, and to the normalization of violence. When such games begin to be played on a psychiatric inpatient unit or are prominent in discussions of individual patients, treaters should examine them in the context of their potential to reinforce and foster resistance and maladaptive patterns of relating to the environment. Treaters are also encouraged to attempt to understand the meaning and risks of such games in the context of an individual patient's psychiatric difficulties and of group dynamics, both within the patient group and between patients and treaters.

Adolescent↗

Affective expression in children's fantasy play, primary process thinking on the Rorschach, and divergent thinking.

The relationships among expression of primary process thinking on the Rorschach, affective expression in fantasy play, and divergent thinking were investigated in first and second grade children. Sixty children received the rorschach (Holt's scoring system), a play task (Affect in Play Scale), and the Alternate Uses Test. Major hypotheses were supported because the amount of primary process thinking on the Rorschach (frequency and percent) was significantly, positively related to amount of affective expression and primary process expression in play. Also, expression of affect in play (frequency, variety, integration, and comfort) was significantly, positively related to divergent thinking, independent of IQ for both boys and girls. On the Rorschach, percent of primary process was significantly related to divergent thinking for boys. The results suggest that the ability to think imaginatively in a free-association style and the ability to have access to affect-laden material are related processes.

Affect↗

Castration fantasies and assertiveness in father-absent males.

In a previous report (Shill 1981), father-absence was linked to insecurity in core male gender identity in a nonclinical sample of college males. The present paper describes further aspects of the experimental use of projective techniques, based on psychoanalytic theory and clinical discussions, to assess the effect of father-absence on male personality development. Castration fantasies and sense of competence in the mastery of external reality as an index of masculine self-representation were coded from the projective test responses of 103 father-present and 28 father-absent college males. When given a choice of castrating figure at the human or animal level, all subjects identified the human mother rather than the father as the more frightening castrating figure. Father-absent subjects, however, identified the animal mother as the more frightening castrating figure, compared to the animal father, more frequently than the father-present subjects, suggesting a denial and displacement of castration fear toward the human mother onto the animal substitute. The father-absent subjects also evidence significantly less sense of mastery, suggesting less self-assertiveness and sense of competence than the father-present controls. The importance of identification with the father as the basis for a masculine ego style and of father absence as a developmental interference affecting the appropriate management of aggression in males is discussed.

Adult↗

Insights into the struggle of creativity. A rereading of Anna Freud's "Beating fantasies and daydreams".

The wish to create, the dilemmas regarding the value, source, and ownership of one's potential and ideas, and the threats that these involve, are explored as they emerge in a dialogue between Anna Freud and her father, embedded in Anna Freud's first paper "Beating Fantasies and Daydreams" (1922). Insight into these aspects of the struggle of creativity contributes to the understanding of their relationship to writing, masochism, sublimation, and other associated psychological processes. Through the analysis of the paper the identity of the patient described is revealed to be Anna Freud herself. This sheds light on her personal development and the way in which it influenced developments in psychoanalytic thinking.

Austria↗

The effect of fantasies of merging with a good mother on schizophrenic pathology.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of subliminal symbiotic stimulation alone and in conjunction with an enhancement procedure on the pathology of relatively differentiated and relatively undifferentiated schizophrenics. It was hypothesized that enhancing the positive attributes of the schizophrenic's image of his mother prior to stimulating a fantasy of a symbiotic merger might increase his ability to benefit from the subliminal symbiotic stimulus. This hypothesis was not supported. Differentiated schizophrenics who received both enhancement procedure and the subliminal symbiotic stimulus showed no pathology reduction, whereas differentiated schizophrenics who received only the subliminal symbiotic stimulus manifested significant reductions in both pathological thinking and pathological behavior. Undifferentiated schizophrenics showed no reduction in pathology after the symbiotic stimulus regardless of whether or not they also received the enhancement procedure. An important finding which emerged was that the subliminal enhancement stimulus alone--i.e., without the symbiotic stimulus--resulted in reductions in pathological behavior for both differentiated and undifferentiated schizophrenics. It was concluded that although enhancing the positive attributes of the schizophrenic's maternal representation did not increase his ability to benefit from subliminal symbiotic stimulation, it did reduce pathology in its own right.

Adult↗

Effects of subliminal stimulation of oneness fantasies on manifest pathology in male vs. female schizophrenics.

This study examined the effects of subliminally activated fantasies of oneness with each parent on the manifest pathology of schizophrenic men and women. Subjects were seen individually for three subliminal stimulation sessions on different days. In each session, measures of pathological thinking and pathological behavior were obtained for a "baseline" assessment before subliminal stimulation, and a "critical" assessment after subliminal stimulation. All subjects received, in counterbalanced order, the two subliminal oneness stimuli ("mommy and I are one" and "daddy and I are one" plus congruent pictures) and a neutral-control message ("people are walking" plus a congruent picture). At the end of the last session, each subject was given a family interview and a family picture test (a card from the CAT depicting three bears at a tug of war). The aim of these procedures was to allow for an exploration of the relationship between the schizophrenic's perception of his or her early experience with each parent and his or her response to each oneness stimulus. Results for symbiotic stimulation showed, as hypothesized: a) the "mommy" stimulus reduced pathological behavior in males but not in females; b) the "daddy" stimulus reduced pathological thinking in females but not in males. Results of the family interview and picture test indicated that the more the male subjects experienced active involvement with one parent, the more they reduced pathology after the oneness stimulus involving that parent, and the less they did so after the stimulus involving the other parent. These results were discussed and suggestions for future research were offered.

Fantasy↗

When dreams become a royal road to confusion: realistic dreams, dissociation, and fantasy proneness.

Scientific discussions about false memories have, so far, mainly focused on external determinants (e.g., therapeutic interventions). However, in some cases, false memories might develop more spontaneously. For example, difficulties in distinguishing between dreams and reality may lead to false memories. The present article discusses two studies (N = 85 and 255, respectively) that examined to what extent such difficulties occur. In both studies, a nontrivial minority of respondents (11.8% and 25.9%, respectively) reported that they had had the experience of not being able to discriminate between dream and reality. As expected, respondents who reported this type of confusion scored higher on fantasy proneness and dissociation measures than respondents who did not report this confusion.

Adult↗

Memories, fantasies, archetypes: an exploration of some connections between cognitive science and analytical psychology.

The value of cognitive science as a means of investigating psychodynamic theory and practice is discussed and the limitations of this approach are described. Research findings from cognitive science are drawn on to clarify the nature of memory, which is seen to be a mixture of reproduction and reconstruction and the concepts of true and false memory are explored in this light. The part played by implicit memory and internal working models in producing transference is also examined. New ways of conceptualizing fantasy, which describes it as another facet of internal working models, and the role of transgenerational transmission of attachment patterns in creating internal working models are explored. The nature of archetypes is considered in the light of cognitive science research and a minimalist model is proposed, in which they can be likened to image schemas, that is, primitive conceptual structures that exist in a form which can never be experienced directly or indirectly.

Fantasy↗

The phenomena of police fantasies, leg fetish, and father identification in a homosexual male.

TOPIC: The relationship of police fantasies and leg fetish to identification with the father in a homosexual male. PURPOSE: To describe two manifestations of identification with the father in a male homosexual. SOURCE: The author's clinical work. CONCLUSION: It is important to decode current behavior in light of theory and past history, to help clients move from potentially destructive behavior to satisfying interpersonal interactions.

Fantasy↗

Patterns of hostility revealed in the fantasies and dreams of women with rheumatoid arthritis.

Data relevant to the feelings of hostility harbored by 25 women with rheumatoid arthritis is reported. Noteworthy points include: (1) a high incidence of early loss by death, often by suicide, of one of the parents; (2) a high incidence of involvement in incestuous relationships; (3) the occurrence in the period of onset of illness of severe provocation by an ambivalently loved person whom the patient cannot relinquish; (4) the presence of conscious fantasies of revenge toward this person which tend not to be carried over into action; (5) the presence of vicious dreams, often containing frankly oral-sadistic motifs in many of which the patient herself is portrayed in the role of victim.

Adult↗

The role of fantasies, countertransference, and psychological defenses in patient violence.

Over the past decade the management of aggression on psychiatric units has generally focused on pharmacologic and physical interventions rather than on psychodynamic concerns. The author reviews the dynamics of violence and discusses how clinical staff's fantasies, countertransferences, and psychological defenses may interact to trigger patient aggression. Interventions that address these issues with staff include developing a cohesive treatment team in which clinical staff can express their feelings without the need to explore the psychodynamic underpinnings, having clinical leaders maintain a strong presence on the unit to serve as role models, and providing regular inservice training.

Conflict, Psychological↗

Diagnosing The English Patient: schizoid fantasies of being skinless and of being buried alive.

The psychological world of The English Patient is explored to deepen the understanding of schizoid states. The protagonist, Almásy, is a remote desert explorer whose triangular sadomasochistic affair with the married Katharine destroys them all. His damaged skin is understood as a symbolic representation of his psychological condition. For the schizoid, love consumes and leads to obliteration of the self, represented by the loss of identifying features, and to traumatic permeability (i.e., the loss of boundaries between self and other, and between the ego and repressed desires). Other schizoid themes are the animation of the inanimate, as in the depiction of the desert as a woman; hidden or buried identities; the digital and destructive experience of emotion represented by the conundrum of the bomb defuser; the sense that everything good is imaginary and might suddenly explode; and the moral unevenness of the characters. Almásy collaborates with the Nazis so he can retrieve Katharine's three-year-old corpse, with which he has necrophilic contact in a cave. Fantasies of the lost object buried within the self, of being buried alive, and of being skinned alive are related to the schizoid condition. Hyperpermeability is proposed as a core schizoid state, underlying schizoid withdrawal.

Adult↗