Desexualization: An interesting problem in The Ego and the Id.

The sudden appearance of the term "desexualization" in The Ego and the Id is considered as a marker of the subtle, almost unnoticeable changes that occurred in Freud's thinking after 1920. The strict dichotomy between life and death drives posed a series of new problems that force Freud to invoke a "desexualized libido" in order to restore some fluidity in the psychic apparatus. But the mechanism of desexualization was difficult to describe and Freud seems to resort to a circular explanation. In the end, the restored dialectics between Eros and the death drive, thanks to desexualization, force Freud to invoke a split in the ego itself.

Trauma, subjectivity and subjectality.

Taking a critical stand on contemporary trends in psychoanalysis regarding trauma, the author addresses the problem of psychic trauma mainly in terms of how it affects the patient's status as a subject. After reexamining the notions of subject and subjectivity, the author illustrates the usefulness of the notion of "subjectality," defined as a critical moment of subjectivity, necessary for processing the consequences of trauma. A clinical illustration is provided.

O feminino, o analista e o teórico infantil / The feminine, the analyst and the child theorist / Lo femenino, el analista y el teórico infantil / Le féminin, l'analyste et le théoricien infantile

Freud, inventor de um método revolucionário de investigação que derrubou muitas visões tradicionais, formulou uma teoria conservadora sobre a feminilidade. Deixando de lado a equação pessoal de Freud, o autor explora os fatores intra-teóricos que podem tê-lo desencaminhado e adverte contra sua persistência no pensamento psicanalítico de hoje.

Freud, inventor of a revolutionary method of inquiry that overthrew many traditional views, nevertheless formulated a most conservative theory about femininity. Leaving Freud's personal equation aside, the author explores the intra-theoretical factors that may have driven him astray and warns against their persistence in today's psychoanalytical thinking.

Freud, inventor de un método revolucionario de investigación que derrumbó muchas visiones tradicionales, formuló una teoría conservadora sobre la femineidad. Dejando de lado la ecuación personal de Freud, el autor explora los factores intra-teóricos que pueden haberlo desencaminado y advierte contra su persistencia en el pensamiento psicoanalítico actual.

Freud, inventor of a revolutionary method of inquiry that overthrew many traditional views, nevertheless formulated a most conservative theory about femininity. Leaving Freud's personal equation aside, the author explores the intra-theoretical factors that may have driven him astray and warns against their persistence in today's psychoanalytical thinking.

The Sexual and psychical reality.

Not everything is sexual in the psychoanalytic conception of the human condition, but the Sexual is at the core of the central conceptual cluster of psychoanalysis, along with translation/repression, resistance, transference and the après-coup time structure (Nachträglichkeit). For all its importance, the Sexual should not be used by psychoanalysts as their single interpretive key. Laplanche's Generalized Seduction Theory, with the translational model of the mind at its core, rather suggests that the Sexual, with its enigmatic presentation to the infant's psyche, is the "Question" to which psychopathology is the non-evolutive, arrested and problematic set of "Answers." In their clinical practice, psychoanalysts should look for the Sexual in the many forms espoused by the repetition compulsion, aiming at undoing (i.e. analysing) those arrested forms so as to open the way to new and more satisfactory solutions to the sexual enigma of the other.

Máquinas de escrever verdades e mentiras / Machines to write truths and lies / Máquinas de escribir verdades y mentiras

Examinando friamente, a capacidade de mentir é uma aquisição positiva da criança, que assim toma consciência da relativa autonomia de sua capacidade de pensar. O proton pseudos histérico, tal qual descrito por Freud no Projeto em 1895, insere-se nesta linha: mentira que, constituindo-se como sintoma, diz ao mesmo tempo a verdade do impacto do outro originário. O sujeito psicótico não dispõe desse luxo; seu delírio tenta, sem verdadeiro sucesso, dizer a verdade nua de sua experiência da alteridade. Por falta de uma mediação pela fantasia, o discurso assim exposto se torna delirante. A novela de Kafka Na colônia penal é citada para ilustrar que o corpo não pode ser traduzido, sem resíduo, em linguagem e que tentar inscrever a verdade no corpo não faz senão destruí-lo. É impossível pensar sem corpo, mas também não se pode pensar e dizer o corpo integralmente sem desnaturalizá-lo. O corpo impõe o recurso à analogia, que, sem ser uma mentira, também não é a pura verdade

Examining coldly, the ability to lie is a positive acquisition of the child, who thus becomes aware of the relative autonomy of its ability to think. The hysterical proton pseudos, as described by Freud in the Project in 1895, is inserted in this line: lies as symptom, at the same time tell the truth of the impact of the originary other. The psychotic subject does not have this luxury; his delusion tries, without real success, to tell the naked truth of the experience of otherness. Lacking mediation by phantasy, the discourse becomes delirious. Kafka's short story In the Penal Colony is quoted to illustrate that the body cannot be translated into language without residue, and that trying to inscribe the truth on to body does nothing but destroy it. It is impossible to think without body, however one also cannot think and say the body as a whole without denaturalizing it. The body imposes the use of analogy, which, although not being a lie, is not the truth either

Examinando fríamente, la capacidad de mentir es una adquisición positiva del niño, que así toma conciencia de la relativa autonomía de su capacidad de pensar. El proton pseudos histérico, como descrito por Freud en el Proyecto en 1895, se inserta en esta línea: mentira que, constituyéndose como síntoma, dice al mismo tiempo la verdad del impacto del otro originario. El sujeto psicótico no dispone de ese lujo; su delirio intenta, sin verdadero éxito, decir la verdad desnuda de su experiencia de la alteridad. Por falta de una mediación por la fantasía, el discurso así expuesto se vuelve delirante. El relato de Kafka En la colonia penal es citado para ilustrar que el cuerpo no puede ser traducido en lenguaje sin sobras; que intentar inscribir la verdad en el cuerpo no hace más que destruirlo. Es imposible pensar sin cuerpo, pero tampoco se puede pensar y decir el cuerpo integralmente sin desnaturalizarlo. El cuerpo impone el recurso a la analogía, que, sin ser una mentira, tampoco es la pura verdad

TEN SHORT ESSAYS ON HOW TRAUMA IS INEXTRICABLY WOVEN INTO PSYCHIC LIFE.

The author contends that it is possible to reconcile trauma and drive theories of psychopathology if we carefully examine the general notion of trauma and reexamine Freud's () theory of war neurosis and of repression itself as an elementary form of traumatic neurosis. The logic of these views follows Laplanche's reintroduction and generalization of the seduction theory in contemporary psychoanalysis.

Unconscious phantasy and its conceptualizations: An attempt at conceptual integration.

That there is a lack of consensus as to how to decide between competing, at times even contradictory theories, and about how to integrate divergent concepts and theories is well known. In view of this situation, the IPA Committee on Conceptual Integration (2009-2013) developed a method for comparing the different versions of any given concept, together with the underlying theories and fundamental assumptions on which they are based. Only when situated in the same frame of reference do similarities and differences begin to appear in a methodically comprehensible and reproducible form. After having studied the concept of enactment followed by the publication of a paper in this Journal in 2013, we proceeded to analyze the concept of unconscious phantasy while at the same time continuing to improve our method. Unconscious phantasy counts among the central concepts in psychoanalysis. We identified a wide range of definitions along with their various theoretical backgrounds. Our primary concern in the present paper addresses the dimensional analysis of the semantic space occupied by the various conceptualizations. By way of deconstructing the concepts we endeavoured to establish the extent to which the integration of the different conceptualizations of unconscious phantasy might be achieved.

The three essays and the meaning of the infantile sexual in psychoanalysis.

Freud's Three Essays on Sexual Theory (1905a) are still today highly significant because of their novel way of considering the human sexual dimension. The author intends to show that a close reading of the Essays, combined with the reintroduction of the seduction theory by Jean Laplanche, provides a specific and foundational sexual theory for psychoanalysis.

Momentos de graça: presença e elaboração do impassado / Moments of grace: presence and elaboration of the unpast / Momentos de gracia: presencia y elaboración del impasado

A partir do trabalho de Michel de M'Uzan sobre a criação literária e, em particular, da noção de "comoção criativa" que ele introduziu nos anos de 1970, o autor examina a dimensão traumática dessa "comoção". Propõe que esta pertence a uma temporalidade específica, que denomina de "impassado", ou "tempo atual", e que seria característica da emergência da "coisa inconsciente".

Taking as a starting point the work of Michel de M'Uzan on literary creation and, particularly, on the concept of "creative commotion" which he introduced in the 1970s, the author examines the traumatic dimension of this "commotion". He proposes that it belongs to a specific temporality, which he calls "unpast", or "present time", and that he sees it as characteristic of the emergence of the "unconscious thing".

A partir del trabajo de Michel de M'Uzan sobre la creación literaria y, en particular, de la noción de "conmoción creativa" que introdujo en los años 1970, el autor examina la dimensión traumática de esa "conmoción". Propone que ella pertenece a una temporalidad específica, que denomina "impasado", o "tiempo actual", y que sería característica de la emergencia de la "cosa inconsciente".

Towards a better use of psychoanalytic concepts: a model illustrated using the concept of enactment.

It is well known that there is a lack of consensus about how to decide between competing and sometimes mutually contradictory theories, and how to integrate divergent concepts and theories. In view of this situation the IPA Project Committee on Conceptual Integration developed a method that allows comparison between different versions of concepts, their underlying theories and basic assumptions. Only when placed in a frame of reference can similarities and differences be seen in a methodically comprehensible and reproducible way. We used "enactment" to study the problems of comparing concepts systematically. Almost all psychoanalytic schools have developed a conceptualization of it. We made a sort of provisional canon of relevant papers we have chosen from the different schools. The five steps of our method for analyzing the concept of enactment will be presented. The first step is the history of the concept; the second the phenomenology; the third a methodological analysis of the construction of the concept. In order to compare different conceptualizations we must know the main dimensions of the meaning space of the concept, this is the fourth step. Finally, in step five we discuss if and to what extent an integration of the different versions of enactment is possible.

A brief introduction to the work of Jean Laplanche.

The author proposes an introduction to the work of Jean Laplanche, a well-known figure of psychoanalysis who recently passed away. He foregrounds what he views as the three main axes of Laplanche's work: firstly, a critical reading method applied to Freud's texts; secondly, a model of psychic functioning based on translation; and, thirdly, a theory of general seduction. Far from being an abstract superstructure, the theory of general seduction is firmly rooted in the analytic situation, as the provocation of transference by the analyst best illustrates. The analytic situation indeed consists in a revival and a reopening of the 'fundamental anthropological situation' which, according to Laplanche, is the lot of every human baby born in a world where he or she is necessarily exposed to the enigmatic and 'compromised' messages of the adult other. Thanks to the process of analytic de-translation, the analysand is therefore granted an opportunity to carry out new translations of the other's enigma--translations or symbolizations that might be more inclusive and less rigid than the pre-existing ones. Incidentally, such a model brings together the purely psychoanalytic and the psychotherapeutic aspects of the treatment.

A matter of time: actual time and the production of the past.

In psychoanalytic theory, space metaphors are frequently used to describe the psychic apparatus. As for time, it is traditionally invoked under the heading of timelessness of the unconscious, more aptly described as the resistance of the repressed to wearing away with time. This paper examines how the insertion of time into psychic events and structural differentiation form a single process. After looking into the parallelism between phenomenological and psychoanalytic views of time and differentiation, the author draws a distinction between two time categories: chronological versus actual. A clinical example is presented.