Psychoanalysis As Biological Science: A Comprehensive Theory

Preface xv essarily a slow process, complicated by the fact that it tends to be experienced as humiliating.Such work can only succeed if carried out in the context of pos­ itive transference. Chapter 17 deals with the therapeutic process as it generally unfolds in a successful analysis.This has usually been described in terms of a succession of predominant transferences, without sufficient attention to the manner in which the analyst's technical choices are bound to skew these. It is more co­ gent to trace the shifts in the mode of hierarchical organization as these occur in reaction to analytic transactions.The maladaptive legacies of various phases of development are thus successively brought to light and potentially made available for remediation.Optimal tension regulation, unification of hitherto uncorrelated segments of the self-organization, the correction of illusions, and the capacity to live with conflict without disavowal or repression of either choice are the most significant improvements analysis may achieve.Analysis should take place in an ambience of empathy and safety that permits analy­ sands to dare to show their true selves-currently unacceptable, archaic aspects of the self-organization. The last chapter briefly lists some of the most significant problems, from a clinical perspective, that await solution through the emergence of novel bio­ logical findings. Most of these concern individual differences with regard to quantitative measur�s of characteristic behaviors in terms of qualities such as psychological strength, intensity, courage, and persistence. I have appended a few "last words" about the current ambience of psycho­ analysis, so unfavorable for the views I espouse. Most clinicians cannot even grasp what is meant by "psychoanalysis as a biological science." When I re­ cently told a colleague that I was writing a book on that topic, he exclaimed, "Oh-you are interested in psychopharmacology?" No, that's not it ...