The Mind in Disorder: Psychoanalytic Models of Pathology

264 Pages·1988·4.85 MB·English

by  John E. Gedo

THE MIND IN

DISORDER

Psychoanalytic Models
of Pathology
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THE MIND IN

DISORDER

Psychoanalytic Models
of Pathology
John Gedo
E.
(cid:9)

THE ANALYTIC PRESS
1988 Hillsdale, NJ Hove and London
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Copyright 1988 by The Analytic Press.
©
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
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without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Analytic Press.
Distributed solely by
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
365 Broadway
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Set in Schneidler type by
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Printed in the United States of America by
Braun-Brumfield, Ann Arbor, MI
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gedo, John E.
The mind in disorder.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Mental illness-Classification. 2. Psycho-
analysis. I. Title. [DFLM: 1. Mental Disorders-
classification. 2. Psychoanalytic Theory.
WM 460 G296mb]
RC455.2.C4G43 1988 616.89'0012 87-18689
ISBN 0-88163-068-3
10 9 8 7 6 54 3 2
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Twenty years ago, in her fathers study, Anna Freud encouraged me to question her
about him. I wanted to know how he had produced his prodigious volume of work;
she told me that he slept little and that she and her mother had devoted their lives to
making it possible for him to think and write.
This book is dedicated to those who made this possible for me, despite my
regrettable propensity for somnolence.
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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Nosology and the Therapeutic Goals of
Psychoanalysis 11
2 Masochism and the Repetition Compulsion 29
3 Epigenesis, Regressive Disorganization,
and Reversibility 41
4 Developmental Arrest and the Borders of Integrated
Functioning 55
5 Disruption of the Self-Organization as an Inability
to Repeat 69
6 Regression, the Psychosomatic Barrier, and the
Capacity to Symbolize 81
vii
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viii CONTENTS
7 Repetitive Enactment as Symbolization and
Self-Healing 95
8 Transitional Relationships, Adaptive Skills,
and Autonomy in Behavior Regulation 109
9 Character, Dyadic Enactments, and the Need for
Symbiosis 121
10 Transference Neurosis, Archaic Transference,
and the Compulsion to Repeat 133
11 Intractable Character Pathology as the
Convergence of Repetition and Apraxia 149
12 Apraxia and the Inability to Learn:
A Repiise of Previous Work 165
13 Disorders of Communication: Language, Mfects,
and Vegetative Signs 177
14 Disorders of Thought: Magic and Obsessions 187
15 The Conundrum of Sexuality 199
Epilogue: The Art of Psychoanalysis as a
Technology of Instruction 211
References 227
Author Index 237
Subject Index 241
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to numerous individuals and
professional organizations for opportuni­
ties to try out preliminary versions of much of
the material in this volume through oral pre­
sentations. Chapter 15 was presented at the
Panel on Libido Theory of the American Psy­
choanalytic Association, the Epilogue as a
Special Lecture for the Academy of Psycho­
analysis, and Chapter 4 as a Dialogue on Prim­
itive Personalities, also at the Academy of
Psychoanalysis. Chapter 10 was offered as a
Franz Alexander Memorial Lecture, jointly
sponsored by the Southern California Psycho­
analytic Society and the Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center, Los Angeles. Chapter 1 was read to
the Austen Riggs Foundation at Stockbridge
and at the New School for Social Research
(Graduate Division). Chapter 9 was presented
at the Symposium celebrating the 50th Anni­
versary of the Washington School of Psychi-
ix
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