RBP - Revista Brasileira de Psicanálise

Bion mentioned the central importance of the ideogramaticization process in dream-work-alpha, although he didn’t expand the subject. I found in Eisenstein, the father of cinematographic montage, a study about copulative ideograms that stresses the collision between elemental hieroglyphs, as a fundamental factor in the transformation of image in concept.
R. L. Stevenson’s essay A Chapter on dreams describes in the background of his literary creationship, an “I” agency, a sort of homunculus, that intermediates the dream production and its reception, an messenger – RNA as it were, that enhances also the dream understanding.
A clinical case is introduced in which the main interest is the appearance of an ideogram in a dream representing an “almost-born baby”. Supported by a transferential pattern of behaviour that led the analisand, to “hide herself behind her own existence”, an “double-face disjunctor object” is proposed, intended to modulate her emotional needs of existence and non-existence.
Combining the Moëbius Ring figure with Bion’s Continent-Content configuration, I offer also a model to understand the transitions between consciousness and unconsciousness, sensuous and psychic, image and word, existence and non-existence.
I discuss, ultimately, the affinities between Stevenson’s entity, Goethe’s homunculus that oscillates between immateriality and encarnation, Grotstein’s psychic presence described as The Dreamer who makes the Dream Understandable, and the disjunctor object inspired in my owm psychoanalytical experience.

Key words
Alteropoesis – ideogramaticization – dream-work-alpha – double-face disjunctor object.

Freud and literature – borders and crossings

The present paper aims at discussing the mark of literature on Freudian work, as from the diversities of places which Freud imputes to literature in his writings, fostering that this marks have so far fed the relation of Psychoanalysis with Literature. In short, what I propose is that, inside Freud’s work, literature would figure as the other in the precise sense of coadjutant of the constitution of the ego; the ego indicating here the place of psychoanalysis construction invented by himself. It is this suggestion that the paper tries to examine, from concrete situations in which Freud takes us to interlocution with writers. At the same time ubiquitous and stranger, literature left its mark on psychoanalysis and on its posteriors. In spite of it, by the multiplicity of positions which might be detached, on reading the Freudian text, about its relation to literature, the relationship between psychoanalysis and literary work shall not confuse us or erase its particularities. By maintaining the tension of the difference between the two fields it is then possible to find a live interlocution between them.

Key words
Psychoanalysis/Literature – Freudian style – interpretation.

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Reflections on the nature and function of interpretation: the question of unconscious interpretations

The author thinks that the restricted concept which interpretation has in psychoanalysis, that is, to include only the verbal manifestations of the analyst, limits and makes difficult the comprehension of interpretive phenomenon as a whole, and its function.
Starting with the general concept of interpretation the author makes a review of the concept, importance and nature of action which interpretation come to get in psychoanalysis.
It is introduced the concept of “unconscious interpretation” and discussed its role in front of processes considered by many authors as “non-interpretive mechanisms” related with procedure (implicit) memory.
The role of interpretation in the therapeutic process is reevaluated and many other factors, not considered as interpretations in the strict sense, are included in the concept notwithstanding the fact that they could be entirely unconscious. This implies an amplification of interpretive work of analyst whom more than ever needs to be conscious of the factors in operation in the mechanism of therapeutic action and not only that these mechanisms exist included generically and vaguely into the “therapeutic relationship”.

Key words
Interpretation – general concept – limited concept – review – therapeutic action – unconscious interpretation.

The tragic dimension of the psyche: an essay from the psychoanalytic perspective

The object of this work is to investigate possible connections between the classical Greek tragic hero and those undergoing psychoanalytic investigation, focusing on the question of achieving awareness of oneself. Initially, some aspects of psychoanalytic theory, as developed by Sigmund Freud, are considered, proceeding then to a characterisation of those aspects of the tragedy and the tragic figure that are relevant to the purposes of this study. The character Oedipus, in Sophocles’ play “Oedipus Rex”, is used as a model in this discussion and we also point out the significance of such a model in the origins of psychoanalysis. Finally, we develop a synthesis based on the complex relationship between tragedy and psychoanalysis, highlighting the value of the tragic elements for the apprehension of the human psyche.

Conjecturing the expression of the primitive mental states in the analytical relationship

The author, starting from the report of her clinical experience with an adult patient, develops considerations regarding the expression of primitive mental states in the analytical process. Having as a foundation the search of elements for the development of the thought and the imaginative conjectures proposed by Bion regarding the proto-emotions, it describes the instrumentality of their interpretations, considering the sensations and the physical excitement as present expression levels in the emotional experience, taking them as proto-thoughts.
That approach seeks to propitiate the reception of the passage of a mental state that is expressed starting from a level of “ corporeal thought” to a mental state that it can be represented by the symbolic thought as well as the attempt to understand their obstructions.

The author recognizes that she is making a bold and intriguing proposition by suggesting that the borderline pathology should be defined as a new structure, rather than the “between” as it has been understood until now. She presents an overview of the major scholars that addressed the subject, who positioned the borderline cases in the “clinic of the emptiness”, which brings about new theoretical and technical demands for the analyst. A clinical example is reported, pointing out the difficulty of diagnosis in such cases, where the more severe pathological aspects are camouflaged by a neurotic behavior, as well as by its defenses. The author shares the opinion that one needs to create something new and representable in this emptiness.

I'll be dealing here with the analyst's clinical work and one of its primary elements thereof: working through, and therefore all the quality of patience that it entails.
If, as we shall see, patience means the capacity to tolerate suffering, what is its relationship to masochism, especially primary erogenous masochism, defined as the capacity to tolerate displeasure? When the analyst exercises patience, is he also exercising some form of masochism?
Being patience a kind of sublimation, is there a risk of bringing it to the edge of death masochism (masochisme mortifère), implying that the analyst should be able to recognize the limits of his tolerance?
Freud established the relationship between masochism and femininity; could we then say that there is a relationship between patience, tolerance to suffering or excitement and the femininity of the analyst be it a he or a she.

The author refers to psychoanalytic literature and defines the narcissistic omnipotence as a defense against frustration of reality, as it is used as a mechanical process based in the causality-deterministic model. Using clinical material from an analytical session, he reflects upon the analyst’s daydream in relation to the analysand, as a possible working through.
The author also reflects upon the dreaming process of the analyst, as a way of holding the split and projected parts of the patient, which could be transformed into alpha elements to be used for interpretation. The analysand, on the other hand, perceiving that the analyst makes this kind of emotional contact with him, feels stimulated to produce alpha elements to think his emotions and to think his dichotomy omnipotence-helplessness.

Key words
Narcisistic omnipotence – helplessness – psychic void – psychosis – mental pain – frustration – reality – object love – rêverie – pictogram – dream images – beta elements – alpha elements – thinking – creativity.

In the threshold of the thinkable: lack of tolerance towards frustration,
thought and mental pain

The ability to think and the frontier of what can be thought are herein addressed, starting with the first proposals by Freud on the relationship between frustration and the thinking process, and followed by references to the extensions of the same concepts that were later introduced by Bion. The main contributions of Bionps theories on thinking and on vinculation are recalled, as well as their advancement with the help of concepts on intolerance to mental suffering. Emphasis is on the transformation of painful and unthinkable emotions into the tolerated and thinkable emotions that become suitable of integration by the patient's psyche. Data from the author's clinical practice is used to illustrate and support personal views on a particular type of mental pain, herein coined as “nameless pain”; the advantage for the analyst that can be harvested from the identification of this type of pain in the testimony of the patients is stressed. Some technical orientations on the practice of psychoanalysis are proposed.

Key words
Freud – Bion – painful emotions – primary interactions – negative capabilities – psychoanalytic technique – nameless pain.

Freud and Aeschylus: a psychoanalytical view of the relationship of Greek tragedy with the development of Civilization

This paper studies the hidden relationships between Freudps thinking and the tragedies of Aeschylus. Departing from the prehistory of drama, through the origins of Greek theatre, an analysis is made of Prometheus bound and the Oresteian trilogy, among the seven remaining plays of the author. From the psychoanalytical point of view, the spotlight is directed onto the psychological motivations that inform the plays, revealing the process by which the human individual is civilized, and reflecting the birth, development and present difficulties of the Western Culture.