Apres‐coup

Some Brief Reflections on "Time" from a Psychoanalytical Perspective

An attempt is made to encircle time and the times psychoanalytically. They are understood as the result of the interplay of different psychic systems: Timelessness of the Ucs system (psychic reality), actual time in the Pcpt-Cs (perceptual reality), and vectorial-linear time in the Cs/Pcs systems (reality principle). Time shows itself in the moment of presence, but it can only show itself if there is a temporal antecedent. At the same time, time and space are intertwined, so that the past is initially the place where something happened. However, the interplay of the mental systems with time and space can only develop in the object relationship. A short clinical example of an autistoid perversion illustrates this dynamic.

Plurality of psychic states in the field

The archetypal images of separation and dissociation are very present in Jung's model of individuation, and Jung proposed a dynamic relationship between conscious and unconscious parts of the psyche of analyst and analysand. In addition, numerous contemporary authors emphasize the multiplicity of the self and the emergence of the field created by both participants, allowing for symbolization and transformation. I describe here my attempts to reach the encapsulated psychic split of a client. Defeated in my search for any conscious, developed self-state that could readily match his, I had to nurture the field of our relationship, where a child was imprisoned and allow space for daydreaming. The field ultimately supported the emergence of a primitive part of me matching his, which he required to safely mirror his experience. In staying and dreaming within this field of longing, we reconstructed his initial trauma. The defeat of my ego and the response to the multiplicity of Mark's states through the sustained reverie of holding a child, a single archetypal image, stirred the good mother in me, forged a container for non-rational, affective somatic psychic splits, and initiated psychic changes.

Hypochondria as an actual neurosis

Freud defined hypochondria as an actual neurosis. In this paper the actual neurosis will be interpreted as unbound traumatic elements which threaten the self. In severe hypochondria, breakdowns have occurred, as outlined by Winnicott. The nameless traumatic elements of the breakdown have been encapsulated. The moment these encapsulated elements are liberated, an actual dynamic takes place which threatens the self with annihilation. Projective identification is not possible because no idea of containment exists. The self tries to evacuate these elements projectively, thus triggering a disintegrative regression. However, the object of this projection, which becomes a malign introject, is felt to remove the remaining psychical elements, forcing the worthless residue back into the self. In a final re-introjection, the self is threatened by unintegration. To save the self, these elements are displaced into an organ which becomes hypochondriacal, an autistoid object, protecting itself against unintegration and decomposition. An autistoid dynamic develops between the hypochondriac organ, the ego and the introject. Two short clinical vignettes illustrate the regressive dynamical and metapsychological considerations.

Après-Coup in French Psychoanalysis: The Long Afterlife of Nachträglichkeit: The First Hundred Years, 1893 to 1993

Après-coup finds its origins in Freud's earliest psychoanalytic writings, but it was only half a century ago that French psychoanalysts rediscovered, clarified, and developed the concept and so brought it recognition as an essential Freudian concept. Because the history of après-coup is embedded in the French reading of Freud, this article will give an account of that reading in relation to après-coup.

O après-coup e a reconsolidação da memória

<p>Em diferentes áreas do conhecimento é reconhecido que a memória está sujeita a transformações ao longo do tempo. Partindo desse pressuposto, o objetivo do presente estudo é apresentar uma discussão compreendendo a ideia de que nossas recordações são suscetíveis a transformações e a concepção de <italic>après-coup</italic>. Há o delineamento de algumas ideias acerca da temporalidade em Psicanálise e do mecanismo de reconsolidação da memória segundo as Neurociências. Utilizando-se tais conceitos, evidenciou-se a viabilidade de se pensar uma interlocução entre a Psicanálise e as Neurociências.</p>

The "as-yet situation" in winnicott's "fragment of an analysis": your father "never did you the honor of"… yet

The author proposes a new hypothesis in relation to Winnicott's "Fragment of an Analysis": that as early as 1955, in the case described in this text, Winnicott is creating the paternal function in his patient's psychic functioning by implicitly linking his interpretations regarding the father to the Freudian concept of Nachträglichkeit. The author introduces an original clinical concept, the as-yet situation, which she has observed in her own clinical work, as well as in Winnicott's analysis of the patient described in "Fragment of an Analysis" (1955).

‘Girls are to be seen, not to be heard’: Understanding the Social Trauma of Kutchi Girls in Post-earthquake Gujarat

The focus on children in the context of everyday life under vulnerable conditions offers great promise for enriching our understanding of how disputations over culture and forms of belongingness are enacted repeatedly and undramatically: here culture takes a living form rather than a fixed one. The proposed paper is part of a larger project that examines psychological and social trauma of child survivors of the 2001–02 Gujarat earthquake and riots. Interactions with Kutchi girls from villages of Lodai, Khengarpur, Khavda and outskirts of Bhuj enabled the researcher to explore the diverse ways in which gender structures the notions of childhood, household work and domesticity defines their identity, ‘inhibition’, ‘absence’ and ‘invisibility’ of a certain kind were emblematic of their personalities. Keeping these thematics in mind, a critical commentary, Child Attachment Interviews (CAIs) narratives, with girl-survivors of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake is offered. Attachment ( anaclisis, in Greek, meaning dependence/leaning on; in Freudian oeuvre often linked with the problematic of need versus drives) is understood as a basic human survival need, embedded within a dialectical intra-psychic/inter-subjective matrix that pervades culture and socialisation. Girls’ impoverished responses during the interviews were marked by long pauses, absent glances, occasional smiles; with mainly monosyllables spoken about their own self though maintaining adultomorphic views of work, their duties and family’s expectations. Each interview was more or less a carbon copy of the other. At one level the interviews try to tap into the nature of ties between child and their families, on another level these act as testimonies where differentiating narrative modes of thought from narrative discourse (Bruner, 2004) allowing an exploration into the psychic vicissitudes of this language of absence and everyday existence marked by painful endurance. The paper develops these observations further to argue that trauma in the case of these girls is a continual disenfranchisement of their voices, needs and desires. Attachment trauma in these young girls is this inability and failure of their families to adequately nurture (psychological and social) capabilities (Robeyns, 2003; Sen, 1982) in the (girl) child and this ‘lack’/trauma has an intergenerational transmission and import (Grubich-Simitis, 1984; Felman & Laub, 1992). The paper illuminates the symptom these girls have become (being mute, stoic [multiple/ongoing] trauma survivors) and behind this symptom lies social depravities such as gender discrimination and child-rights violation where the mother (and remaining family) is not only implicated but caught in the same rigmarole—of patriarchal hubris.

The danger in deception: oedipal betrayal and the assault on truth

Certain potential precursors to heterosexual women's experience of partner infidelity are explored as these dynamics unfold within the oedipal crisis-the "betrayal" by the oedipal objects. As each child moves into the oedipal phase, he or she comes to recognize not only desire for the mother, but the mother's desire for the father. A doubling of this experience of "deception," encountered first in relation to the mother, and then repeated with the father, may be especially pronounced for a girl, as she is likely to inhabit more fully her bisexual potential in negotiating the expected shift of object choice from mother to father. "Deceived" by her primary maternal oedipal object, a girl sets forth toward her paternal oedipal object with "fidelity" already an issue, and with faith in her mind's ability to determine reality already shaken. Undermined trust in self and other is the context in which she begins the oedipal relation to her heterosexual object. This path is quite distinct from that traveled by the heterosexual boy. Clinical material illustrates the assault on one's mind, on one's confidence to determine what is true, that is a central aspect of both oedipal and adult betrayal.

Some reflections on the unique time of Nachträglichkeit in theory and clinical practice

Of the various forms that the matter of time assumes in analysis, Nachträglichkeit represents Freud's first intuition on the subject. The focus of this article is directed toward the specific temporal dimension that the concept of Nachträglichkeit expresses, and how that dimension, which overturns linear time, is expressed in clinical work. The concept of Nachträglichkeit is approached from a theoretical point of view, tracing back the role and development that this notion has had in psychoanalytic Freudian and post-Freudian thinking. The goal of this article is to demonstrate how Nachträglichkeit represents the unique temporal movement of the analytic session and the characteristic positioning of the mind of the analyst at work. Three clinical examples are presented. The analytic scene is formulated as occurring in two times, and through the working through that takes place, patients can recover the enigmatic 'remainder', which is consequently traumatic and which has compulsively accompanied them through the various times of their existence. Nachträglichkeit, as a non-linear temporality, introduces a unique dimension into the clinical work that influences listening to and interpretation of the material. The recognition of that (trauma, infantile sexuality, non-linear temporality) has consequences for the analyst's way of working in session and on the interpretation of clinical material, as I will try to show through my theoretical exposition and clinical examples.

The two time vectors of Nachträglichkeit in the development of ego organization: significance of the concept for the symbolization of nameless traumas and anxieties

The author describes Freud 's conception of Nachträglichkeit as an active process that bridges the gap between past affective vicissitudes and the cognitive present by way of meaning. Symbolization is thereby subsequently [nachträglich] conferred on early traumatic events, which thus become susceptible to omnipotent control. The two time vectors of Nachträglichkeit are discussed: the first is a causal process operating in the forward direction of time against the background of a factual reality, while the second is a backward movement that permits an understanding of unconscious scenes and phantasies taking place at primary-process level. This twofold temporal motion was observed and described by Freud early on. However, its significance often remained hidden prior to his study of Moses. It was mostly overlooked in English and French translations, thus giving rise to a one-sided understanding of the concept in the various psychoanalytic cultures, as either deferred action or après-coup. Freud 's Moses study addresses both temporal aspects of Nachträglichkeit, seeking not only to reconstruct a past event on a causal, deterministic basis, but also to understand the subjective truth of that event in the transference along the retrograde time line. The decisive criterion for the conceptual and clinical separation of the two time vectors is the development of ego organization and the capacity for symbolization. The two vectors should not be separated on the factual level, as both aspects of Nachträglichkeit are essential to the understanding of unconscious processes, combining as they do in a relationship of circular complementarity.

Reflection in psychoanalysis: on symbols and metaphors

Psychoanalysis is an art of reflection, i.e. it tries to facilitate the subject's retrieval of his own self. The 'material' to be reflected upon consists of the products of human symbolization. But there are two views of reflection. In one, the self is searched in a temporal, structural and procedural 'anterior' (the model of archaeology). In the other the self is to be found in a still evolving meaning process, i.e. it resides in a 'future' (the model of teleology). Both these pictures are common in psychoanalysis. The aim of this paper is to study the figures of symbolization through the archaeology/teleology reflection model. The author tries to show that 'symbol' leans on archaeology while 'metaphor' comprises a teleological conception. In order to show the relevance of this finding, the author draws the outlines of both an archaeological and a teleological model in psychoanalysis. It is stated that the former builds on an inherent symbol model while the figure for the latter is metaphor.

Rethinking pathological mourning: multiple types and therapeutic approaches

Different types of pathological mourning are discussed, with the idea that refining psychoanalytic nosology in this sector can contribute to the enhancement of interventions more suitable for each. Primary fixation to the object--extant before the loss--is differentiated from secondary fixation, which occurs when suffering in the present leads to idealization of an object that is only then felt to be actually lost. The role of narcissism, guilt feelings, and paranoid anxieties in the process of pathological mourning is considered. Clinical material illustrates some of these conditions.

The Controversial Discussions and après-coup

The author suggests a distinction between what is descriptively named après-coup, and what is dynamically identified as après-coup. This parallels Freud's distinction between the descriptive unconscious and the dynamic unconscious in the topographical model of the mind. The descriptive après-coup refers to the way in which the concept has found a use, especially but not only in the French literature, to refer to retrospective signification in the moment-to-moment progress of a session. The author outlines dynamic après-coup and she suggests it is at the core of Freudian metapsychology. Dynamic après-coup establishes a link between trauma, castration, repetition compulsion, sexuality and temporality in the context of the transference.

On Nachträglichkeit: The modernity of an old concept1

Nachträglichkeit provides the memory, not the event, with traumatic significance and signifies a circular complementarity of both directions of time. Conceived by Freud as early as 1895 in the Project for a scientific psychology, the concept remains in his work without official status but through its character of biphasic development and latency indispensable for understanding temporal connections and psychic causality. As an implicit principle it is linked with the postponement and biphasic onset of sexual life and retains its sometimes hidden importance until the late Moses study. Temporarily virtually forgotten, it was recalled to memory by Lacan in 1953. Translations into French as après-coup and into English as 'deferred action' emphasized the two vectors (retroactivity and after-effect) separately which are united in the substantive form coined by Freud. Unnoticed, it played a part in many aspects of clinical practice, especially in Winnicott's Fear of breakdown and the subsequent (nachträglich) working through of unconscious infantile and transgenerational conflicts. The author uses a clinical illustration to elucidate the belated understanding of the striving for non-existence in Winnicott's sense. Wolfgang Loch extended Freud's concept of Nachträglichkeit in a constructivist way, advocating an art of interpretation as an innovative enterprise through which connections are not only unmasked but also created, constituted by subsequent (nachträglich) reinterpretation of a subjective past. Very briefly the author refers to the interdisciplinary reception of the concept of Nachträglichkeit, especially in cultural studies.