Psychoanalytical Psychology, Personality Disorders, Emotions - Psychology, Characteristics & Qualities - Self-Improvement

Affect, Object, and Character Structure

Name: Affect, Object, and Character Structure
Author: Morton Kissen
ISBN: 9780823601141

by Morton Kissen

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Overview

Affects, object representations, and character structures are three central concerns for contemporary psychoanalytic treatment. The much neglected difficulties with positive affects and affective attitudes such as joy, exhilaration, courage and competency are explored in the present volume through extensive case material. A treatment model emphasizing a reversal of the traditional figure-ground is carefully delineated; positive affects, for so long held in the background, are brought into the foreground and become the central focal points for the psychotherapy process. Oedipal implications of this reversal in figure-ground are comprehensively delineated. The object relational implications of this reversal of perspective are explored in the present volume via an intensive focus upon the protectiveness reactions via which earlier objects are repetitively shielded from angry critical reactions and negative judgments. The incapacity to mourn and, ultimately, let go of pathological introjects and identifications is linked to an unconscious need to protect early objects against unfavorable perceptions and associated affective reactions. A failure to attain maturational momentum from a more adequate process of mourning, object relational integration and psychic healing results from these pathological protectiveness reactions. Common forms of character pathology and resistances can be viewed as resulting from an excessive need to protect early pathological objects. The extreme stuckness and repetitively unsatisfying behavior patterns of many characterologically disturbed patients can be alleviated via an intensive form of resistance analysis focusing upon the reluctance to experience positive affects and the inner object relational paradigms associated with that reluctance. The paradoxically beloved toxic objects and nostalgic attachments unconsciously underlying many forms of character disorder need to be repeatedly focused upon, in the treatment model explicated in t

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Editorials

From The Critics

Reviewer: Walter F. Burke, PhD(Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This book describes the role of positive affects in the development of psychopathology, patterns of interpersonal relatedness, and treatment strategies.
Purpose: The purpose is to emphasize the important influence, often neglected by theorists and practitioners, that positive affects have in the formation of character structure, psychopathology, and ultimate treatment interventions. Implications for the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders based on the author's reformulation are illustrated through brief clinical vignettes.
Audience: This book is geared for the more advanced mental health professional interested in both shorter and longer term forms of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. The author has written extensively on the subject and is well versed in both the theory and practice of psychoanalytically informed treatment methods.
Features: The table of contents clearly outlines the mission of the book and allows the reader to locate the distinct sections pertaining to theoretical and clinically based discussions. The references are up-to-date and present a balance of modern and historical works.
Assessment: The author proposes a renewed emphasis on the utility of positive affects (e.g., exhilaration, joy, effectiveness, etc.) in the understanding of pathologic character development and its treatment. The author's unique contribution revolves around the proposition that positive affects, at crucial times in the treatment process, should be shifted into the foreground of the therapeutic focus. The presentation and documentation for his argument is sound. His recommendations for newer technical strategies based on this premise require further elaboration and grounding in clinical case material. This book is for the more advanced practitioner in the psychoanalytic field and might supplement a collection already well stocked in more fundamental contributions to theory and clinical practice.

Walter F. Burke

This book describes the role of positive affects in the development of psychopathology, patterns of interpersonal relatedness, and treatment strategies. The purpose is to emphasize the important influence, often neglected by theorists and practitioners, that positive affects have in the formation of character structure, psychopathology, and ultimate treatment interventions. Implications for the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders based on the author's reformulation are illustrated through brief clinical vignettes. This book is geared for the more advanced mental health professional interested in both shorter and longer term forms of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. The author has written extensively on the subject and is well versed in both the theory and practice of psychoanalytically informed treatment methods. The table of contents clearly outlines the mission of the book and allows the reader to locate the distinct sections pertaining to theoretical and clinically based discussions. The references are up-to-date and present a balance of modern and historical works. The author proposes a renewed emphasis on the utility of positive affects (e.g., exhilaration, joy, effectiveness, etc.) in the understanding of pathologic character development and its treatment. The author's unique contribution revolves around the proposition that positive affects, at crucial times in the treatment process, should be shifted into the foreground of the therapeutic focus. The presentation and documentation for his argument is sound. His recommendations for newer technical strategies based on this premise require further elaboration and grounding in clinical case material. This book is forthe more advanced practitioner in the psychoanalytic field and might supplement a collection already well stocked in more fundamental contributions to theory and clinical practice.

Booknews

Kissen (psychology, Adelphi U.) explores difficulties with positive affects and affective attitudes through extensive case material, presenting a treatment model that emphasizes a reversal of the traditio figure-ground and describing Oedipal implications of this reversal. He covers topics such as the centrality of affects in contemporary psychoanalysis, the therapeutic use of self and object representations, and meshing character structures in couples. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

3 Stars from Doody