The purpose of the study was to demonstrate that certain fundamental insights of psychoanalysis and pragmatism, heretofore seen as mutually exclusive, are, in fact, complementary, and uniquely augment, supplement, and clarify each other. It was believed that a presentation of the rapprochement between the two theories you'd be a significant contribution towards the maximum release and maturation of man's potential to inquire.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-98). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-98). Also available on the Internet.

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Contemporary approaches to psychotherapeutic intervention increasingly utilize a medical-based diagnostic system focused on identifying and eradicating discrete symptoms. Mental "disorders" are determined by identifying "pathological" behaviors and superficial symptoms which are then lumped together arbitrarily and labeled as specific "mental illnesses." Despite a gross lack of supporting evidence, these "mental illnesses" are then attributed to various brain abnormalities and biological malfunctions, most often with reference to "chemical imbalances" believed to be the origin of mental distress. Evidence for such biological reductionism is presented conclusively, with little regard for the implicit ontological assumptions made by such a positivist perspective. When psychopathology is viewed in this way, the role of human experience is devalued, resulting in an egregious medicalization of human distress that has devastating consequences for those who suffer. <br> The work of Jacques Lacan offers a radically different approach to diagnostic formulation and treatment that has, until recently, largely been ignored in Western psychology. This dissertation seeks to participate in correcting this imbalance by offering a Lacanian clinical approach to working with obsession. I offer two case studies of former patients--both of whom presented with classic symptoms of the medical syndrome known as obsessive-compulsive disorder--to illustrate Lacan's structural approach in contradistinction to a descriptive, symptom-based approach. I endeavor to make Lacan's obsessive structure and his diagnostic schema accessible to mental health professionals interested in employing Lacan's work. To do so, I utilize a qualitative case study methodology, with particular emphasis on the psychoanalytic interview. I draw specific attention to the difference between obsessive-compulsive disorder and Lacan's obsessional structure. Finally, I highlight the ethical implications for clinicians of the ideological construction of mental distress as solely biological and suggest that Lacan offers a diametrically opposed discourse that is sorely lacking and needed at this time. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Clinical Psychology / PhD; / Dissertation;

This theoretical study brings together Carl Jung’s active imagination and Robert Desoille’s “rêve éveillé dirigé/directed waking dream” method (RED). Such a rapprochement is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to study the historical development of these two approaches in Central Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Secondly, it aims to explore their theoretical similarities and differences and proposes implications for a hybridised and integrated framework of clinical practice. The first part of the study contextualizes Jung’s active imagination and RED in the broader psychotherapeutic currents practised at the time. Furthermore, this work analyses them through the geo-historical background of twentieth century France and Switzerland. It also goes on to investigate key historical intersecting points where Jung and Desoille, as well as their disciples, crossed paths. The second part of this study is a theoretical comparison between C. G. Jung’s active imagination technique and Robert Desoille’s directed waking dream method (RED). This work compares the spatial metaphors of interiority used by both Jung and Desoille to describe the traditional concept of inner psychic space in the waking dreams of Jung’s active imagination and Desoille’s RED. This study also attempts a broader theoretical comparison between the procedural aspects of both RED and active imagination by identifying commonalities and divergences between the two approaches. The comparison is built on a comparative methodology based on five operatively important categories chosen from the literature review. These are related to the therapeutic practice and procedures of both waking dreams and include: setting and preparation of the body, structure and directivity by the analyst/therapist, transferential and counter-transferential relationship, narratives, and interpretation. Such a comparison also helps to explore the implications for an integrated- hybridised framework of clinical practice i.e., a RED-based approach to active imagination that fills an important gap in post-Jungian writings on active visual imagination as well as offering a long-awaited acknowledgement of the RED method.

A lot has been written about money but little about the clinical fee and even less about the analyst’s relationship with this important aspect of the therapeutic dyad. This project researched psychoanalytic psychotherapists' and psychoanalysts' thoughts and feelings about the clinical fee. By beginning with Freud, this thesis explores how, historically, aspects of money have been discussed, and illustrates from both historical and current perspectives that little attention has been paid to it. Looking at how money is contextualized within psychoanalytic discourse may shed some light on why the clinical fee can be an arena that is fraught with anxieties, avoided by analysts and analytic institutions. This thesis explores the reasons why this area has been little researched, which may be because the clinical fee is associated with primitive thoughts and feelings regarding money and consequently avoided, leading to an absence of open and transparent discussions on this significant aspect of the therapeutic frame. This thesis discusses how these primitive roots of our relationship with money may lead to avoidance of discussion concerning the clinical fee, and explores some conflicts that underpin this avoidance. This thesis looks at the analytical fee from the point of view of the analyst and analytic training organizations. More often than not, when any attention has been paid to the clinical fee, fee-related issues have been left with the patient. This thesis raises two questions and two hypotheses which are addressed: 1. Is the clinical fee a difficult issue for therapists? 2. If so, what are the conscious and unconscious psychodynamics that make it difficult? Twelve therapists who are psychoanalytically trained and/or psychoanalysts, kindly agreed to take part in this project, and were interviewed for this investigation.

The purpose of this mixed method study carried out in an NHS mental health setting was to elucidate the connection between what was presented in the consulting room as OCD and how it is used to mask early object relations failure, which re-surfaces in adulthood as difficulties within the arena of sexual intimacy. The literature review identified the theoretical and empirical evidence for this hypothesis and highlighted gaps in the current understanding within psychoanalytic thought and object relations perspectives. The theoretical concepts used to understand the clinical data was based on Melanie Klein’s Object Relations Theory. The textual analysis of structured interviews identified levels of obsessive compulsive symptoms and sexual perception categorized as sexual esteem, sexual depression and sexual pre-occupation. Qualitative data was collected from a single case study and provided contextual information including unconscious material. The results of the quantitative study provided evidence for the intensity of OCD and identified negative sexual esteem and negative preoccupation as the dominant features within the sample; whilst the single case-study found evidence that OCD rituals and ruminations were used to mask disruptions in object relations which were noticed in anxious sexual relations. The conclusions of the study offer an important consideration for the treatment of OCD in an NHS setting. It adds to the psychoanalytic theory of obsessional neurosis in relation to the unconscious actions involved during sexual relations. Recommendations for further research include additional quantitative research with a larger sample and analysis of additional single case studies to provide additional evidence of the concept. Key Words: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Object, Object relations, Object Relationships, Projection, Sexual Intimacy, Symbol Formation.