IDEAS IN PSYSHOANALYSIS Phantasy JULIA SEGAL IDEAS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS Phantasy Julia Segal Series editor: Ivan Ward ICON BOOKS UK TOTEM BOOKS USA Published in the UK in 2000 by Icon Books Ltd., Grange Road, Duxford, Cambridge CB2 4QF email:
[email protected] www.iconbooks.co.uk Published in the USA in 2001 by Totem Books Inquiries to: Icon Books Ltd., Grange Road, Duxford, Cambridge CB2 4QF, UK Distributed in the UK, Europe, Canada, South Africa and Asia by the Penguin Group: Penguin Books Ltd., 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ In the United States, distributed to the trade by National Book Network Inc., 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 Published in Australia in 2000 by Allen & Unwin Pty. Ltd., PO Box 8500, 9 Atchison Street, St. Leonards, NSW 2065 Library of Congress catalog card number applied for Text copyright © 2000 Julia Segal The author has asserted her moral rights. Series editor: Ivan Ward No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 1 84046 189 6 Typesetting by Hands Fotoset Printed and bound in the UK by Cox & Wyman Ltd., Reading Introduction Why do we do what we do? Some people insist that they know the answer to this question, that everything they do is rational and sensible. These people never find themselves thinking, ‘Whatever got into me?’ or ‘I know I shouldn’t do that; why did I do it again?’ – whether ‘that’ is drinking too much, getting involved with the wrong sort of partner, or letting their mothers upset them. Such people may not be very interested in this book. Neither will those who prefer to put things to the back of their minds for fear of opening cans of worms. However, many people find themselves doing things which take them by surprise, or which they thought they did not want to do. Some wonder what exactly the worms in those cans look like. These people may also find themselves wondering at the behaviour of others. The concept of phantasy is a tool which allows for quite subtle and complex understanding of behaviour and feelings, even though many of its ideas might initially seem ridiculous. It is only when these ideas have been 3 PHANTASY observed in action that they begin to seem convincing. The Basic Idea: Daydreams Our perceptions of other people depend not only on their real characteristics, but also on what we bring to the relationship. For example, after we quarrel with someone, in our heads the quarrel goes on. Things are said on both sides, and our picture of the other person changes. When next we meet, we greet that person with the memory not only of what both of us actually said, but also with our interpretation of those things, as well as with the memory of the imaginary post-quarrel con