Research into witchcraft in psychoanalysis and history.

Witchcraft and witch-hunting have been a topic for numerous historical and psychoanalytical research projects. But until now, most of these projects have remained rather isolated from one from the other, each in their own context. In this article I shall attempt to set up a dialogue between psychoanalysis and history by way of the example of research into witchcraft. However, I make no claim to covering the different psychoanalytical and historical approaches in full. As a historical 'layman', my interest lies in picking out some of the approaches that seem to me particularly well suited to contribute to reciprocal enhancement.

Mysteries of nature.

This article examines a group photograph of the Psychiatry and Neurology section of the 66th Meeting of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors in Vienna, 24-30 September 1894 which Sigmund Freud attended. The society's origins in Naturphilosophie are indicated and a number of the participants are identified on the photo. They and the events at the conference are related to Sigmund Freud's work at the time and to his gradual abandonment of anatomy and of heredity and degeneration as significant aetiological factors in the neuroses. Philosophical problems, such as how phenomena should be described and how 'nature' is conceptualized, are also considered in the light of their implications for Freud's life and thought at that period.

Something black in the American Psyche: formal innovation and Freudian imagery in the comics of Winsor McCay and Robert Crumb.

Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland anticipates Robert Crumb's work. McCay's innocent dreamscapes seem antithetical to the sexually explicit work of anti-capitalist Crumb, but Nemo looks forward to Crumb in subject and form. Nemo's presentation of class, gender, and race, and its pre-Freudian sensibility are ironic counterpoints to Crumb's political, Freudian comix.

Anaclitic therapy in North America psychoanalytic and psychiatric practice in the 1950s-1960s.

Anaclitic therapy, a little-known chapter in the history of North American psychoanalysis and psychiatry, sheds light on the prevailing trends and therapeutic approaches common in the 1950s and 1960s. It touches upon major junctions in the history of psychoanalysis and psychiatry, such as the therapeutic use of regression, the usage of biological measures in conjunction with psychoanalysis, the relationship between therapist and patient and eclecticism in North American psychiatry. By following the brief history of this form of therapy, this article affords a glimpse of the history of some of the significant issues practitioners in psychoanalysis and psychiatry faced at the time.

The Berlin tradition in Chicago: Franz Alexander and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Freud considered Franz Alexander, the first graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and an assistant in the Berlin Polyclinic, to be "one of our strongest hopes for the future." Alexander went on to become the first director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1932 and modeled some of the Chicago Institute's mission on his Berlin experiences. He was also a researcher in psychosomatic medicine, a prolific writer about psychoanalysis and prominent in psychoanalytic organizations. As he proposed modifications in psychoanalytic technique, he became a controversial figure, especially in the elaboration of his ideas about brief therapy and the corrective emotional experience. This paper puts Alexander's achievements in historical context, draws connections between the Berlin and Chicago Institutes and suggests that, despite his quarrels with traditional psychoanalysis, Alexander's legacy may be in his attitude towards psychoanalysis, characterized by a commitment to scientific study, a willingness to experiment, and a conviction about the role of psychoanalysis within the larger culture.

Drawing cure: children's drawings as a psychoanalytic instrument.

This essay deals with the special case of drawings as psychoanalytical instruments. It aims at a theoretical understanding of the specific contribution made by children's drawings as a medium of the psychical. In the influential play technique developed by Melanie Klein, drawing continuously interacts with other symptomatic (play) actions. Nonetheless, specific functions of drawing within the play technique can be identified. The essay will discuss four crucial aspects in-depth: 1) the strengthening of the analysis's recursivity associated with the graphic artifact; 2) the opening of the analytic process facilitated by drawing; 3) the creation of a genuinely graphic mode of producing meaning that allows the child to develop a "theory" of the workings of his own psychic apparatus; and 4) the new possibilities of symbolization associated with the latter. In contrast to classical definitions of the psychological instrument, the child's drawing is a weakly structured tool that does not serve to reproduce psychic processes in an artificial, controlled setting. The introduction of drawing into the psychoanalytic cure is by no means interested in replaying past events, but in producing events suited to effecting a transformation of the synchronic structures of the unconscious.

A systems approach to behavioral neurobiology: integrating psychodynamics and neuroscience in a psychiatric curriculum.

In the practice of medicine, an understanding of the biological functioning of organs and organ systems is the basis for theories of pathology and clinical practice. If psychoanalysis is to be accepted by the medical and psychiatric community, it must be based on a sophisticated understanding of the organ from which mental and emotional experiences emanate and use scientifically acceptable language. Each approach to psychotherapy has its own vocabulary for describing neuropsychological processes. Neurobiological vocabulary provides the various factions "neutral ground" upon which to carry on a multidisciplinary integrative dialogue. An understanding of behavioral neuroscience allows the therapist to look beyond the labels that spawn division and identify unifying biological principles that are described in a variety of ways in a multitude of theories. We contend that the neural network/representational approach to neurobiology views human mental experience as the result of multiple complex integrated systems, and is therefore holistic and antireductionistic in its perspective. Such a biologically informed psychotherapy facilitates integration of skill sets and flexibility in technique. With these principles in mind, the therapist can base his or her approach to the patient based on these principles rather than on devotion to one particular "school" or another. Because behavioral neuroscience supports many of the basic tenets of psychoanalytic theory, such an integrative psychotherapy would be psychodynamically informed. In this paper, we outline some of the ideas we present in our neuroscience course and how we relate biological concepts with some core principles of psychodynamics and psychotherapy.

The place of psychoanalysis in the history of the Jews.

Situating psychoanalysis in the context of Jewish history, this paper takes up Freud's famous 1930 question: what is left in Judaism after one has abandoned faith in God, the Hebrew language and nationalism, and his answer: a great deal, perhaps the very essence, but an essence that we do not know. On the one hand, it argues that "not knowing" connects psychoanalysis to Judaism's ancestral preoccupation with God, a preoccupation different from that of the more philosophical Greek, Latin and Christian traditions of theology. On the other hand, "not knowing" connects psychoanalysis to a post-Enlightenment conception of the person (i.e. of personal life), as opposed to the more abstract notion of the subject associated with Kant.

Simulating the unconscious.

This paper is concerned with hypnosis and the methodological "anxiety" (Devereux) which inevitably affects the hypnotist, whether experimental psychologist or therapist: what if the phenomena observed during hypnosis were only an effect of compliance with his own expectations, demands and suggestions? What if the hypnotized simulated hypnosis solely to please him? From Charcot and Richet to Martin Orne, by way of Bernheim or Freud, the response of researchers to this disquieting question has always been the same: the subject cannot be simulating, because he is hypnotized, asleep, unconscious. The hypothesis of a psychic unconscious (or of unconsciousness), which determined the very concept of hypnosis from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards is nothing more than a postulate required to guarantee the objectivity of hypnotic and, more broadly, psychological phenomena, by preventing the latter from being seen as simple artifacts of the experimental or clinical situation. The present paper examines several historical avatars of this postulate, including psychoanalysis, and proposes that it be abandoned in favor of a conception of psychology and psychotherapy which is constructivist and no longer objectivist, recognizing the artifactual character of psychic productions instead of denying it.

¿Qué es la psicosomática para elpsicoanálisis? / What is "psychosomatics" in psychoanalysis?

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Psychosomatic medicine and primary care in Germany.

The development and training in psychosomatic medicine in Germany are presented. This branch of medicine emphasizes the biopsychosocial understanding of disorders, and psychological, particularly psychoanalytic, methods are used. The outcome of treatment studies are awaited to clarify their role in the medical services of Germany.

Teaching psychosomatic medicine.

The authors want to present their experience over the last 20 years in teaching the psychosomatic approach to health professionals and students in their last years, i.e. medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses and dentists. The teaching classes take up 2 years and their main function is to teach students psychosomatics as an approach, a proposal for an integral assistance in health care. They are aimed at emphasizing the human comprehension of pathology, trying to understand it within the scope of a historical and related process, without denying the organic reality of disease.

"Don't tell us--show us": the use of role play in the teaching of psychoanalytic theory.

The psychological concepts associated with psychoanalysis are sometimes considered to be precious and somewhat irrelevant by professionals working with disturbed adolescents. Discussions (at a theoretical level) of these ideas may not highlight their usefulness in clinical situations. This paper describes the use of active role play techniques in a staff training group designed to teach about the "Inner World of the Adolescent". The fundamental features of "transference" and "counter-transference" were brought alive during these groups, and several other theoretical contributions of modern psychoanalysis were demonstrated within the setting of a training session. These groups were not intended to train "therapists", but to support and improve existing styles of work with adolescents.