miércoles, 3 de agosto de 2011

Death's horrible face

Death stalks us at every moment, but people don't think of death all the time. That is why the death of a fellow is so earth-shattering. It reminds us of our own impending and unavoidable demise. Our narcissism is utterly defeated... nowhere to turn to, except fantasy, while oblivion, eventually, sets in and we go by our 'happy' way.
 

The power of wish over belief

People generally believe what they want to. Even though the phrase I just stated might not impress you because it's generally said in heated every-day discussions... it really means something heavy: people can actually believe what they wish and generally do.

So it should not be a surprise to anyone if there are people who decide all of a sudden to believe in Mithras or Odin and are successful in doing so.


In fact one of the decidedly false things that nearly everyone believes is their self-image. The more we need to fend off feelings of depression, fear or inadequacy, the more distorted one's self image will be.

This representation of the self gives the analyst clues regarding what is being defended, and this by reference to the imaginary aspect in the subject's discourse which highlights what commonly is the polar opposite of what s/he says s/he is.


How can the analyst break the chains of imaginary seduction the self has the subject trapped in? By signaling back to the person those distorted elements when they become or nearly become capable of being obvious to the subject. This is what Freud called "strengthening the ego", or what we may call in contemporaneous psychoanalysis, strengthening the character structure.

Another way the analytical therapist may do this is by simply questioning, scanning through what the subject presents. This is similar to the Socratic Questioning a Law professor would do (and theoretically a Rational Emotive therapist would do, but I am afraid that in reality they don't, as I discovered by studying that modality of psychotherapy and by my first-hand experience as a patient). It isn't by convincing a patient of my superior wisdom, which I do not purport to have, but by enabling the patient's character structure to do any working-through by her/himself. 


In any case, breaking up the power of wish over belief is possible, and is what psychoanalysis and analytic psychotherapy offer. Any rigidity, any fundamentalism is weakened at its defensive core.