Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This dissertation attempts to investigate the psychological nature of the conscience in Freudian theory and evaluate it in the light of certain neo-Freudian and non-Freudian findings. Special attention is given to the original work of Sigmund Freud and particular emphasis is placed on his concept of the super-ego, In psychological literature conscience is generally referred to as the super-ego. For Freud, the super-ego comes into being through the psychic processes of repression, identification and introjection. Its central task is that of playing the role within the personality once occupied by the parental or other authorities. The super-ego tends to accent the harshness, severity and restrictiveness of the parents far more than their love and kindness. Other Freudians, notably Bergler, Flugel, Klein and Jones expand Freud's early theories of conscience as a stern and punitive tendency in personality. They see the ideal self-image as of little value and rooted in unrealistic expectations [TRUNCATED]

Introduction: Excessive self-criticism constitute a huge suffering for the individual. Clinical experiences and research indicate that the phenomenon is difficult to treat and one of the strongest obstacles against a healing process. The aim of this study is to develop grounded hypothesis of what can be useful ways of relate to and/or intervene regarding excessive self-criticism. Starting point is the experience and knowledge of licenced psychodynamic psychotherapists.  Questions:What is the experience of working with patients who suffers from excessive self-criticism? In which ways and what is it that causes this condition difficult to treat?Which clinical strategies are perceived to work, respectively not work?  Method:Six semi-structured interviews with experienced psychotherapists which were coded with thematic inductive analysis.  Results: Six themes: 1) Observe reactions suggestive of self-criticism. 2) Separate the patient from self-criticism. 3) Analyse why. 4) Be a counterforce. 5) Synthonicity and mistrust. 6) Build a counterforce within the patient.  Discussion:Based on theory and research, the discussion leads to hypothesis of useful therapeutic approaches: 1) Long experience of the phenomenon. 2) Empathic, warm relational and active stand, a reinforcing counterforce. 3) Specific interventions with the aim to activate the patient’s own empathy, compassion and trust – and to others. / Inledning:Överdriven självkritik innebär ett stort lidande för individen. Kliniska erfarenheter och forskning tyder på att fenomenet är svårbearbetat och ett av de starkaste hindren i vägen för en läkningsprocess. Syftet med studien är att utveckla grundade hypoteser om vad som kan vara användbara sätt att förhålla sig och/eller intervenera vid överdriven självkritik. Studien har som utgångspunkt psykodynamiska legitimerade psykoterapeuters erfarenheter och kunskaper.  Frågeställningar:Vad är psykoterapeutens erfarenheter av att arbeta med patienter som lider av överdriven självkritik? På vilka sätt och vad är det som orsakar att tillståndet är svårbehandlat? Vilka kliniska strategier upplevs fungera respektive inte fungera i behandlingen?  Metod:Sex semistrukturerade intervjuer, genomförda med erfarna psykoterapeuter, vilka undersöktes med tematisk induktiv analys. Resultat:Sex teman: 1) Observera reaktioner som tyder på självkritik. 2) Skilja ut patienten från självkritiken. 3) Undersöka varför. 4) Vara en motkraft. 5) Syntonicitet och misstro. 6) Bygga upp en motkraft hos patienten. Diskussion:Utifrån teori och forskningsnivån lyfts resultatdiskussionen till grundade hypoteser om användbara förhållningssätt: 1) Lång erfarenhet av fenomenet. 2) Ett empatiskt, varmt relationellt och aktivt terapeutiskt förhållningssätt och att fungera som en förstärkande motkraft. 3) Specifika interventioner i syfte att aktivera patientens egna empati, medkänsla och tillit – och gentemot andra.

Existe-t-il un au-delà de la castration ? Cette aporie que Freud nous a légué comme un point de butée infranchissable est le point de départ de ma thèse. Celle-ci consistera à étudier le concept de la castration et son lien inextricable avec le complexe d’OEdipe, à travers les oeuvres de Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan et Pierre Fedida. A l’appui de la clinique psychanalytique d’aujourd’hui, il s’agira de montrer comment la cure psychanalytique, et la position du psychanalyste, visent à introduire la castration. La castration, au coeur de la théorie psychanalytique, est le pivot de la vie psychique et est impliquée dans la formation des symptômes mais aussi de leur résolution. Cetravail tente d’articuler les oeuvres de trois auteurs majeurs de la psychanalyse, Freud, Lacan et Fedida, non pas pour les opposer ou les confondre mais pour mettre en perspective leur champ d’expérience, selon leur référentiel et leur style, desquels ressortiront notamment les notions de spaltung (division et clivage) et d’absence / Is there exist one beyond castration ? This aporia where Freud left us as an insuperable point is the starting point of my thesis. This one will consist in studying the concept of castration an its inextricable link with the OEdipus complex, through the writings of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Pierre Fedida. In support of the psychoanaytical private clinic of today, it will be a question of showing how the psychoanalytical cure, and the position of the psychoanalyst, aim at introducing castration. Castration, at the core of psychoanalytic theory, is the pivot of psychic life and is implied in the formation of the symptoms but also in their resolution. This work tries to articulate works of three major authors of the psychoanalysis, Freud, Lacan and Fedida, not to oppose them or confuse them but to put in perspective their field of experience, according to their reference and their style, of which will notably arise the concepts of spaltung (division and splitting) and of absence.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s critically acclaimed classic The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, poetically captures the zeitgeist of the roaring twenties, and has attracted considerable attention regarding the depiction of the American dream. Early critics argued that it offered a rendition of the quintessential American dream, claiming that the novel stays true to the dream’s original values. However, this analysis makes an effort to reveal the false materialistic values that corrupt and taint the vision of the original American dream projected in the narrative. More specifically, the analysis attempts to demonstrate that the core values of the American dream are gradually distorted and corrupted throughout the novel. Moreover, the novel is approached through the use of certain psychoanalytic concepts which are concerned with mental processes and constructions of personality. By applying these psychoanalytic concepts to Jay Gatsby, the analysis investigates the gradual perversion of the dream through a number of passages and pivotal moments throughout the novel as to showcase the reasons why the dream is perverted. The analysis concludes that the investigated events in fact demonstrate a gradual perversion of the American dream. Furthermore, the essay showcases a clear causal connection between the disrupted balance in the mental processes within Gatsby and the investigated events. The stressful events that Gatsby experiences prompt certain cognitive responses within Gatsby, causing him to pervert the American dream and its core values.

In Jane Austen’s renowned Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813, the reader encounters love and marriage in the British middle-class during the nineteenth century. While the main focus of the novel is the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, the reader also encounters the youngest Bennet sister, Lydia. Lydia is depicted as loud, vain, rude and ignorant and even though this is a correct description of Lydia’s behavior, there are underlying reasons for that foolish and naïve behavior. Thus, the aim of this essay is to examine and explain the underlying reasons as to why Lydia behaves as recklessly and selfishly as she does. By close reading of the novel and by using psychoanalysis and relevant Freudian concepts, mainly the id, the ego and the super-ego, the analysis concludes that there is an evident connection between Lydia’s unruly behavior and her dysfunctional relationship to her parents. Due to the lack of parental guidance, Lydia has been left uncontrolled and heavily ruled by her id. Moreover, this essay will demonstrate that there is a shift in Lydia’s behavior as the novel progresses. As a result of certain events in the novel, Lydia’s behavior shifts even further towards her being driven by the pleasure principle and her id.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:38:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Klaylian Marcela Santos Lima Monteiro.pdf: 1147567 bytes, checksum: 05c2fcd53418463043381bdc1b9cc12d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-29 / The present study aimed, in general, to investigate, under a psychoanalytic approach, the main processes that characterize the constitution of subjectivity of serial killers, linking them to the role that they play the ancient super-ego and the effects of stunning. As the first specific objective, there were submitted, from data collected in interviews, the aspects of the schizo-paranoid position and their repercussions in the manner that act serial killers, in this way, investigating the role of destructive fantasies, of defenses, besides the questions about the object-victims, passing by the theme of hate. The second specific objective was to study, from data collected in interviews, the ancient super-ego and its modes of action in those points related to sadism, to the criminal tendency, and the implications of the ancient super-ego on the psyche of the serial killers, besides the compulsion to repetition in the compulsive act of serial killers. The last of the objectives was the development of an interrelation between the data collected in the interview and the role of stunning in the psyche on the ancient superego demands. Search relevancy is justified, among other reasons, by the fact that it does not exist yet, in Brazil, psychoanalytic readings on this theme, in despite of the growing number of serial homicides and the need for improvement of clinical methods of early approach to children and adolescents who exhibit cases antisocial features. Such studies were marked out especially by kleinian and post-kleinian theoretical structure. It was noted that the psychic configuration of the serial killers, based on the model of ancient super-ego, takes them to destructive behaviors displayed in front of the victims, in particular, the ability to stunning. The data were obtained through interviews with serial killers prisoners in penitentiary units of the States of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo / O presente estudo objetivou, de modo geral, investigar, sob um enfoque psicanalítico, os principais processos que caracterizam a constituição da subjetividade dos assassinos seriais, relacionando-os ao papel que neles têm o superego arcaico e os efeitos da sideração. Como primeiro objetivo específico, foram apresentados, a partir dos dados colhidos nas entrevistas, os elementos relacionados à posição esquizo-paranóide1 e suas repercussões no agir dos assassinos em série, neste sentido, investigando o papel das fantasias destrutivas , das defesas, além das questões referentes às vítimas-objeto, passando pelo tema do ódio. O segundo objetivo específico foi estudar, a partir dos dados colhidos nas entrevistas, o superego arcaico e seus modos de atuação, naquilo que se relacionam ao sadismo, à tendência criminosa e implicações do superego arcaico no psiquismo dos assassinos em série, além da compulsão à repetição no agir compulsivo dos homicidas seriais. O último dos objetivos, foi o desenvolvimento de uma interrelação entre os dados colhidos na entrevista e o papel da sideração no psiquismo diante das demandas do superego arcaico. A relevância da pesquisa justifica-se, entre outras razões, pelo fato de ainda não existirem, no Brasil, investigações psicanalíticas sobre este tema, apesar do número crescente de homicídios seriais e da necessidade de aperfeiçoamento dos métodos clínicos de abordagem precoce a crianças e adolescentes que apresentam quadros de característica antissocial. Tais estudos foram balizados, especialmente, pelo arcabouço teórico kleiniano e pós-kleiniano. Observou-se que a configuração psíquica dos homicidas em série, embasada sob os moldes do superego arcaico, leva-os aos comportamentos destrutivos apresentados diante das vítimas, em especial, à capacidade de sideração. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevistas com assassinos seriais reclusos em unidades prisionais dos Estados do Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo

This essay focuses on psychoanalytical notions in Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho. The theoretical framework is based on Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. Slavoj Žižek’s idea that the house serves as a symbol of Freud’s concept of the Super-Ego, Ego and Id is presented and further developed. Moreover, it is exemplified how the idea of repression as a defense mechanism can be traced in the novel. It is then explained that repression is used as a tool for making the reader feel sympathy for Norman Bates. In addition, Wolfgang Iser’s reception theory is used to explain how Bloch uses gaps and pre-intentions in order to create anticipation and retrospection in the reader to produce suspense and horror. The intention is to prove that the attention to the psychological issues is what makes the monster of the novel more sympathetic and recognizable to us as readers. Thus, the result is that we position ourselves closer to the monster, which leaves us wondering if we could, due to our shared psychology, be monsters as well.