Psychoanalysis of the Psychoanalytic Frame: Revisited A New Look at José Bleger's Classic Work

177 Pages·2022·4.68 MB·English

by  Carlos Moguillansky, Howard B. Levine

“The work of José Bleger, articulating with masterly clinical grasp sources
going from Pichon-Rivière to Melanie Klein, and from Margaret Mahler to
French philosophy, has steadily gained recognition since his early death.
The distinguished authors of this volume generously attest to its present
relevance.”
Jorge L. Ahumada, member of APA (Argentine Psychoanalytic
Association), Training Analyst and former member of the
board of International Journal of Psychoanalysis
“With great expertise, Bleger investigated the relationship between the
subject and institutions, showing how the family, group and social
belonging were organizing factors in the personality. He discovered the
importance of the psychoanalytic frame, whose apparent normality may
conceal primary links which never achieved representability. His ideas
greatly influenced Latin American psychoanalysis.”
Jorge Luis Maldonado, member of APDEBA (Psychoanalytical
Association of Buenos Aires, Argentina), Training Analyst and
former Vice President of APDEBA.
“Editors and authors of different generations and perspectives craft an
illuminating context to meet José Bleger (1922–1972), whose thinking
marked a turning point in the conception of the frame in psychoanalysis.
Who could resist the temptation to read his seminal essay framed by such
creative questions? A reference book.”
Haydee Faimberg MD (IPA) Training and Supervising Analyst SPP
(France) and APA (Argentina) and International Distinguished
Fellow (British Society); author, The Telescoping of
Generations: Listening to the Narcissistic Links
Between Generations (Routledge)

Psychoanalysis of the Psychoanalytic
Frame Revisited
PsychoanalysisofthePsychoanalyticFrameRevisitedprovidesanin-depthdiscus-
sionofJoséBleger’swork,broadeningcurrentknowledgeandfocusingonhis
significant contribution to psychoanalytic thinking. This work should prove
especiallyrelevantinconsideringtheimplicationsofchangesinthetreatment
settingforcedbytheCovidpandemic.
ThiseditedcollectionproposesacurrentdebateonJoséBleger’sideasonthe
psychoanalytic setting. The contributors here provide a broad overview of
current discussions about the analytic setting, its clinical expressions and its
technicalmanagement,engagingandtransformingtheconceptof“encuadre”
(frame). The book covers topics including early experiences, the psycho-
analyticsetting,symbiosisandapplicationsinapandemic.Acommonthread,
Bleger’s brilliant intuition, runs through the book, and the tense relationship
betweentheframeandthefiguremaintainsitsdynamicsthroughout.
Psychoanalysis of the Psychoanalytic Frame Revisited will be of great inter-
esttopsychoanalystsinpracticeandintraining,aswellasanyoneseeking
to understand the work of José Bleger.
Carlos Moguillansky is MD, Master in culture, Training Analyst, Former
ScientificSecretaryandPresidentofAPDEBA.Heisaformermemberofthe
board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and a current member of
theIPAPublicationsCommittee.Hehasalso authoredpapersandbooksin
Spanish, many of them are translated into English, Armenian, Russian,
PortugueseandFrench.
HowardB.LevineisamemberofAPSA,PINE,theContemporaryFreudian
Society, NYU Post-Doc’s Contemporary Freudian Track, and in private
practice in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of Affect, Repre-
sentation and Language: Between the Silence and the Cry (Routledge 2022) and
Editor-in-ChiefoftheRoutledgeW.R.BionStudiesBookSeries.
The International Psychoanalytical Association Psychoanalytic
Classics Revisited
Series Editor: Silvia Flechner
IPA Publications Committee
Fred Busch, Natacha Delgado, Nergis Güleç, Thomas Marcacci, Carlos
Moguillansky, Rafael Mondrzak, Angela M. Vuotto, Gabriela Legoretta
(consultant)
Titles in this series
Playing and Reality Revisited: A New Look at Winnicott’s Classic Work
Edited by Gennaro Saragnano and Christian Seulin
Attacks on Linking Revisited: A New Look at Bion’s Classic Work
Catalina Bronstein
André Green Revisited: Representation and the Work of the Negative
Edited by Gail S. Reed and Howard B. Levine
PsychoanalysisofthePsychoanalyticFrameRevisited:ANewLookatJoséBleger’s
Classic Work
Edited by Carlos Moguillansky and Howard B. Levine
Psychoanalysis of the
Psychoanalytic Frame
Revisited
’
A New Look at José Bleger s
Classic Work
Edited by
Carlos Moguillansky and Howard B.
Levine
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Firstpublished2023
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ISBN:978-1-032-17206-4(pbk)
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DOI:10.4324/9781003252252
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Contents
Series Editor’s Foreword ix
GABRIELALEGORRETA
Psycho-analysis of the psycho-analytic frame 1
JOSÉBLEGER
Introduction 14
CARLOSMOGUILLANSKY
1 What is the setting after all? 21
LEOPOLDOBLEGER
2 The psychoanalytic setting, embodiment and presence:
Exploring José Bleger’s concept of encuadre 39
JOHNCHURCHER
3 Psychic equivalency as an aspect of symbiosis
JUDYK.EEKHOFF 57
4 On the psychoanalytic frame and ambiguity as axes for the
study of Bleger’s works 80
JOSÉE.FISCHBEINANDSUSANAVINOCURFISCHBEIN
5 On Bleger’s view of the psychoanalytic frame: A critical
approach 96
B.MIGUELLEIVI
6 Of things that are not visible: José Bleger: A clinician for
our times? 109
HOWARDB.LEVINE
7 Thirst for infinity and the analytic frame: Reflections on Bleger
and Matte-Blanco 119
RICCARDOLOMBARDI
viii Contents
8 Understanding early experiences: Bleger’s contribution to the
undifferentiation of early states 127
BERNDNISSEN
9 Revisiting José Bleger’s ideas in times of pandemia 148
ALBERTOPIECZANSKI
Index 158
’
Series Editor s Foreword
Psychoanalysis of the Psychoanalytic Frame Revisited: A New Look at Bleger’s
Classical Work by Carlos Moguillansky and Howard B. Levine
The Classics Revisited Series, launched by Gennaro Saragnano in 2015,
was introduced after four earlier successful series published under the
auspices of the International Psychoanalytic Association. The aim of this
latest series is to make available to psychoanalysts and other scholars in
related fields, a reinterpretation of the classics of psychoanalysis by
authoritative colleagues from various countries and different theoretical
approaches, in light of the most recent developments in contemporary
psychoanalysis.
Inahistoricalperiodcharacterizedbytheincreasedinternationalizationof
psychoanalysis,anditsrapidspreadinEasternEuropeandAsia,webelieve
that there is an increased demand for psychoanalytical culture and for
further investigation of the great classics of this discipline. These classics
might be books, single papers or individual contributions of a specific
thinker that have marked the history of the theoretical and clinical devel-
opment of psychoanalysis. These works include all those contributions
which, far from being comprehensible only if viewed against a specific
historical and cultural backdrop, are capable of continuously stimulating
psychoanalytic thought in a creative and non-dogmatic manner, and
thereforeremainasbasictheoreticalandclinicallandmarks,regardlessof
personalopinionsandtheapproachofeachpsychoanalyst.
The Publications Committee is pleased to launch the fourth volume of
thisserieswiththebookPsychoanalysisofthePsychoanalyticFrameRevisited:
A New Look at Bleger’s Classical Work. This volume is an acknowledgment
of José Bleger’s important contributions and his seminal paper, “Psycho-
analysisofthepsycho-analyticframe”.Blegerisoneofthemostrenowned
pioneers of Latin American psychoanalysis. He was born in Argentina in
1922 and died in 1972 at 49 years of age. He was creative thinker, an
intellectual with multiple interests.
In “Psycho-analysis of the psycho-analytic setting”, Bleger presents new
and striking insights about the setting. While Bleger agrees with Winni-
cott, who considered the frame as the psychoanalytic situation composed