Leading articles

The Book

With a book in mind as we were developing the symposium, the participants were invited to select any relevant topic, of their own choosing and personal interest, but that the material had to be new, original and unpublished. The resulting essays were to tell stories that integrated theory, practice and history. To the core Burlingham collection, we then added over a hundred archival photographs from Thomas Aichhorn in Vienna, the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna, the Freud Museum London and other institutional and private collectors. The book was originally due to be published by Karnac Books. It remains in the History of Psychoanalysis Series, but was issued by Routledge in January 2019. >> continue

Like so many New York stories, the Freud/Tiffany Project came from a chance encounter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. About 6 years ago, I met Michael Burlingham, the grandson of Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham, just when he had started to inventory the objects and documents in the estate of his father. That would be Bob Burlingham, Dorothy’s eldest son. As a teenager, Bob had taken hundreds of photos and placed the celluloid strips of his photo and film negatives, horizontally, into an album. >> continue

A transcultural, psychoanalytic essay for migrants.

The root of my interest in transcultural psychoanalysis is probably anchored in my own biography, and this interest grew while working with patients at the Sigmund Freud University’s outpatient clinic, and later in my own private practice. During my time at the outpatient clinic, I observed the phenomenon that many patients longed for psychotherapy in their native language, despite being proficient in German. This phenomenon took on a new dimension when individual patients preferred psychotherapy in German, although they were not proficient. >> continue

                                                                              (Carol Of the Bell)

Christmas is the time of the year in-between ‘what is old and what is new’, what has been and what is yet to come. It is a period of suspension and balance. What is the role of Father Christmas in our lives? ...

Natale è quel periodo dell’anno che sta il “vecchio e il nuovo” tra ciò che è stato e ciò che deve ancora essere: come se fosse un momento di sospensione, di bilanci. Che funzione assume Babbo Natale nella vita di ognuno di noi? >> continue

Sociological concepts and their representation in "Tokyo blues (Norwegian Wood)" by Haruki Murakami.

Relationships take different forms depending on the type of society or culture. In this article, we will examine sociological concepts to understand the characteristics of modern societies and explore their influence on relationships and the phenomena that are wrapped in, such as emotional ties, sexuality, intimacy and others.

Algunos conceptos sociológicos y su observación en “Tokyo blues (Norwegian wood)”, de Haruki Murakami.

El aparejamiento es sin duda uno de los fenómenos más significativos del funcionamiento psicológico. A pesar de darse ya en el psiquismo más temprano y ser sentido como muy íntimo e individual, recibe una fuerte influencia contextual, tomando formas distintas según el tipo de sociedad o cultura en la que se produce. >> continue

Femininity - motherhood - imparting

The motherliness and femininity as relations between mother / maternal caregivers, daughters, sisters and wives are carefully depicted in the film. The still very young-looking mother of Yasemin, who has two other girls and a boy - the youngest child who evokes associations with the long-awaited son - is very asexual and fraught with the woman´s weak role as the stereotypical traditional Turkish woman. "You´re a woman, haven’t you understood yet?" (13 mins., 6 sec.), she asks Yasemin referring to the paternal prohibitions, defining Yasemin as her ilk, limiting her liveliness. At the same time she limits her even more by caressing Yasemin like a little baby ("Amanda Anasının Kuzusu!", "Oh, you mother´s lamb!" (13 min 15 sec.). >> continue

Growing up in two worlds as a female adolescent

On the relevance of the historical in psychoanalytic psychotherapies

I believe it was a Saturday night in 1988 when my parents took us children to visit a friendly "guest-worker family" in the neighborhood. I can remember a lively society, a room steeped in the bright light of the ceiling lamp – a space, in which the adults and children gathered in a world of their own. Our parents sat on the "couches" that were common in so-called "guest workers´ homes" and chatted while the children were absorbed in their games on the floor. We were enveloped in Turkish ... >> continue

Trauma as Identification Process

Bohleber (1998) describes the transgenerational transmission of trauma as identification process and introduces 5 ”general characteristics” that are unique to this type of identification. First, the identification refers to a past event. Secondly, these processes refer to an absolute and crude identification with the parent. The traumatized parents require a „regulation of their precarious narcissistic balance and mentally take possession of the child out of necessity” by projecting the split, “written off” parts unconsciously onto the child.  >> continue

"Trauma is contagious“, states Judith Herman pointing towards the relationship between mental illness and how it is structurally passed on within different types of relationships. Freud already addressed the transgenerationally transmitted emotional processes in his book “Totem and Taboo”. He argues that

“[…] we may safely assume that no generation is able to conceal any of its more important mental processes from its successor. For psycho-analysis has shown us that everyone possesses in his unconscious mental activity an apparatus which enables him to interpret other people’s reactions, that is, to undo the distortions which other..." >> continue

From the dissolution of the oedipal complex to the development of several attachment styles.

"With the failure of the Oedipal complex the investment on the maternal object must be abandoned" (S. Freud, The Ego and Es)

There is an anecdote in the life of Sigmund Freud that tells the origin of the Oedipus complex; it is said, in fact, that when he was little, his father Jacob told him that at the age of ten, a stranger turned to him exclaiming “Down from the sidewalk, Jew!”. Then, Sigmund asked his father Jacob how he reacted he replied, “...


Lo sviluppo della libido
Dalla dissoluzione del complesso edipico allo sviluppo di diversi stili di attaccamento.

"Con lo sfacelo del complesso edipico deve essere abbandonato l’investimento oggettuale materno" (S. Freud, L’Io e l’Es)

Esiste un aneddoto nella vita del Maestro che racconta l’origine del complesso edipico; si narra, infatti, che quando era piccolo il padre Jacob gli raccontò che all’età di dieci anni un uomo si rivolse a lui esclamando “Giù dal marciapiede ebreo!”, allora Sigmund chiese al padre come avesse reagito e Jacob rispose “... >> continue

Etymologically speaking, the term "family" has its roots in Latin and refers in a figuratively sense to a housing community defined by marriage or ancestry. Frequently in today´s households, only two generations live together. >> continue

I am delighted for the opportunity to describe my experience with participatory research methods in The Vienna Psychoanalyst with the Karen people and I hope for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas on the subject. For example, I would be interested in how psychoanalysts interpret the children´s drawings ([see figure 1] The author thanks her father, Franz Vogler, for the technical processing of the drawings) in the continuous text. It would also be important to know what ethnopsychoanalysts have to say of the Karen people and their cultural symbolism.

As a PhD social scientist at Oxford University, I have been working with the Karen tribe people for more than ten years. The Karen people mainly live in the highlands of East Burma and northwest Thailand. Due to economic and cultural reasons, they have a marginalized position in Thai society: initially, most Karen people live as rice farmers in the highlands of northwest Thailand, where there are only limited opportunities to earn money through trade or services. Although many young Karen people spend time in urban areas to make money, most of them live in rural areas and have less income than the majority population. Culturally, the Karen people differ from the Thai population because they have their own mother tongue and their everyday life is characterized by other traditional behavior than is common among the majority population. The Karen people also wear different clothes and eat different food than the Thais. However, in everyday practice, there are always overlaps between Thai and Karen culture, not least because the Karen children go to state schools where Thai is spoken. >> continue

“Come with me”
“Let’s go with the princess”
“Yes, I am a princess”

Landing is not the last effort they have to deal with. It is only one of the many obstacles they have to overcome in order to achieve freedom, their freedom. That freedom, strived for youth, made of freely living without any problems. “I’m an adolescent, I don’t know what´s happening to me. My body, my thoughts, everything is changing. Although changes and war, I must survive!” They are escaping: from war, hunger, thirst, violence, abuses, wiped out hopes and the forthcoming death. They abandon their family and friends. They are no longer safe. Their beautiful cities have been destroyed, overpowered by hate. That kind of hate, that lasts over time and does not make room. No room for anything, not even for corpses. “I could be one of those corpses, it’s better to run away!”. Once arrived, some are disoriented; their eyes are full of terror. That terror, which has infested their minds and hearts during these months lasting trip. Their eyes are lifeless because of physical and mental tortures inflicted both overboard and on land. Others arrive with the dream to rejoin a relative or a friend, which “made it through Europe!”. Sicily, we are almost there! Yes, I saw them. I had the honor to watch and go along with them during their last strain: the post-landing inspections. While they were arriving into the harbor of my city, I remembered all the newscast scenes and I can state that they are as we see them on television.



Trauma senza fine: giovani migranti in “fuga” dalla realtà
“Andiamo con la principessa”

“Venite con me”
“Andiamo con la principessa”
“Si, sono una principessa”
 
Lo sbarco non è l’ultima fatica che devono affrontare, è soltanto uno dei tanti ostacoli che devono superare per raggiungere la libertà, la loro libertà, quella a cui tutti i ragazzi aspirano, quella del vivere liberi dai problemi e godersi la vita: “Perché sono un adolescente, perché non so cosa mi sta succedendo, qui cambia tutto, il mio corpo cambia, cambiano i miei pensieri. Ma c’è la guerra, devo sopravvivere, intanto continuo a cambiare, ma devo sopravvivere!”. Scappano, scappano dalla fame, dalla sete, dalle violenze, dai maltrattamenti, dagli abusi, dalla morte dietro l’angolo, dalle speranze distrutte, dagli affetti, dagli amici, non sono più al sicuro. Le loro bellissime città sono distrutte, annientate dall’odio, quello che persiste nel tempo e non lascia spazio, non c’è spazio per nessuno, non c’è più spazio nemmeno per i cadaveri.  “Tra i cadaveri potrei esserci io, allora, Sì scappiamo!”. Arrivano disorientati, alcuni hanno gli occhi spenti dal terrore, quello che ha pervaso le loro menti e il loro cuore durante i mesi di viaggio, occhi spenti dalle torture fisiche e psicologiche subite in mare e in terra. Altri, arrivano con gli occhi sognanti, sognano di poter raggiungere un parente o un amico che “ce l’ha fatta”, è riuscito ad arrivare in Europa. Sicilia, ci siamo quasi! Si, io li ho visti, ho avuto l’onore di guardarli, di accompagnarli pochi minuti durante l’ennesima fatica, i controlli post-sbarco. Mentre li vedevo arrivare, scesi, dal gommone che dalla nave che li conduce dentro i confini del porto della mia città, ricordavo le scene che che mandano in tv, sì sono come li vediamo in tv. >> continue

This year around 81000 "Taferlklassler" [N.T children just starting school] have just started school in Austria. Smiling, with a "Schultüte [N.T.The School Cone- large cornet of cardboard filled with sweets and little presents given to children in Germany on their first day at school]" in front of a blackboard - one imagines something like this when one thinks about these children on the first day of school. >> continue

When I go to the Freiburger Starbucks, I see some zealous medical students who rehearse diligently with thick earplugs in their ears. Then there are the brilliant writers who are still waiting for the appointment to the same and by nose picking, excessive coffee consumption- after all the refill only costs 50 cents – and frequent visits to the toilet, they try to solve their writer´s block. There is usually also always a person who is a bit antisocial: The homeless-psychotics who smells bad, falls asleep and then jumps briefly to defend his table; a little washed up dog owner who lets his furry pet run around, even to the tables of frightened mothers with dog hair-allergic children; lately a young woman who lets out a terrible curse, which sets the teeth on edge every 5 minutes, so that inevitably I begin to fantasizes, what she could do with the men who have her cursing so much. On the other free tables, where no individualists are, sit couples, girlfriends or French families.

And one can have become so accustomed to that one no longer may noticed it: Of those who sit together at the table, at least half at the moment of viewing it, is busy with their cell phones: The young woman with the strict perfume odor types all the time on her I-phone, in between she takes some bites from her muffin and then smiles briefly with her mouth full at her male counterpart, who also types around somewhat listless on his cell phone. There are the twenty-year-old female twins, each of which taps on their phone, each with headphones in the ear. There is the French family, woman, man and the pubescent daughter: the father strokes his I-Phone, obviously searching something on the Internet, the daughter types something into her cell phone, the mother checks her makeup in the mirror of the cell phone.

Talking without a side view to the mobile phone is a rarity in the microcosm of Starbucks. That it is not about an artifact of an underclass-Niche-cosmos, knows anyone who has ever experiences meting young high school students during a school trip in the train: He will find that seventy-five percent are kinda busy with their cell phones. >> continue

It is becoming common the search of professional help to take care of young people who have deliberately caused cuts on themselves. They are usually – but not exclusively - girls, teens, with cuts on their wrists, arms and even on their faces, brought by parents who are terrified by the scene and do not know what to do.

Besides the cuts, the presence of symptoms such as anorexia and bulimia are common, and some subjective characteristics, such as isolation, the need to call attention and the feeling of being misunderstood. Often, these youngsters have no mood to go to school,  no appetite and they don´t like to hang around with friends. These characteristics are very common and relevant in adolescence, but in these cases they appear on an exaggerated form and are often perceived as a depression.



JOVENS QUE SE CORTAM


É cada vez mais frequente a procura por ajuda profissional, geralmente solicitada pelos familiares, para o atendimento de casos em que jovens têm deliberadamente provocado cortes em seus pulsos, braços e até nos rostos. Geralmente são meninas, adolescentes, trazidas pelos pais, que ficam aterrorizados com a cena e não sabem o que fazer.

Além dos cortes, a presença de sintomas como anorexia e bulimia são comuns, além de algumas características subjetivas, como o isolamento, a necessidade de chamar a atenção e a sensação de ser incompreendida. É comum não haver ânimo para ir à escola, não ter apetite e não ter vontade de sair de casa. Questões muito presentes e pertinentes na adolescência, mas que nestes casos aparecem de forma exacerbada e é muitas vezes percebida como uma depressão. >> continue

The dream narratives of a four-year-old girl

When I, as the project leader [N.T. In the interview below as V], turned on the camera, B already looks at the animals and puts them in the sandbox; she takes out a crocodile and a shrub - the shrub is thorny;

B: "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! "(00:13 min, Interview B)
B shouts when she picks up the tree, and laughs;

She seeks eye contact with me, smiling at me, she always shows me the animal that she takes out of the container; to the crocodile and several spiky trees she puts a bull, which she calls "evil" (00:55 min, Interview B); but the other two animals were friends;
On the first question whether B has ever dreamed something she says approvingly:

B: "Uh-huh" (1:08 min, Interview B)
And without further questioning she says loudly:
B: "Mama is fall into the pool." (1:09 min, Interview B)

She makes swimming movements with the arms and the following dialogue arises (from 1:09 min, Interview B):

B: "And there she sw..sw..swims.[N.T here in German B nearly mentions disappearing “verschwindet” instead of “schwimmen”..swimming ]"
V: "That the Mama fell into the pool and swims there, did you dream?"
B: "And then swims longer."
V wants to say something, B interrupts me: " And then cl..cl..climbs on the waterslide "
V: "The Mama?"
B: "Uh-huh."
V: "What then sliding down?"
B: "Uh-huh. Because there was on the water. "
V: "A beautiful dream?"
B: "Uh-huh."

B continues to play with the figures; she pressed them all firmly into the sand and commented that:
B: "I am very strong. I already throw the D (a boy, note of the author) down. And the E (a girl, note of the author), as she was six. "(Min 1:50 Interview B) >> continue

Sigmund Freud "Interpretation of Dreams" is the centerpiece of psychoanalysis. Much has been written about the psychoanalytic perspective of dream narratives from adults. However, it seems as if dream narratives of children have never been given priority. The following article deals with the question of the importance of children´s dreams and if they are rightly overlooked in case studies and theoretical papers. >> continue