HD 3700 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I. Reflecting on your dreamsII. Dream structure and “neurotic structure”III. Two of Freud’s case studiesIV. The modern version of Freud’s theory: signal anxiety and compromise formationOutline of Current LectureV. Hamlet and his “step father”VI. Signal anxiety and compromise formationVII. Compromise formation in the formulation of “Fat Lady”Current LectureI. Hamlet and his “step father”- Hamlet, Claudius, Hamlet’s mothero Hamlet is wearing black—grieving his father, has been 3 months since his deatho Claudius is very smart—also a sociopatho Claudius speaks to the audience—“we’re grieving the late king, but we’re celebrating the new queen and the wedding”o Claudius gives his son leave to return to Pariso Elizabethan England: This is pre-puritan England—did not think sex was dirty “will” was slang for sexual organs, “spend” meant to have an orgasm—tells his son to go back to Paris and enjoy himselfo Hamlet says I might look like I’m grieving, I’m wearing black and tearful, I could be faking it (like Claudius), but my inner experience is in griefo Claudius shames and humiliates Hamlet while pretending to be comforting him—“unmanly grief, a heart un-fortified, a mind impatient” Calls Hamlet stupid, wimpy, unreligious, immature, and dumb, obstinate grief, “all sons lose their fathers”, “it is impious, you must accept what God does”- Everyone leaves, except Hamlet, and he speaks to the crowdo Point of view is important—this is the first speech from Hamlet to the audienceo This speech describes what it is like to have severe depressiono Rage at his mother, with such haste she took those incestuous sheets (sheis with her ex’s brother, considered incestuous)o He can’t commit suicide—it is a sino Everything is weary—there is a staleness to lifeo He hates himself—thinks he is a losero Cannot stop thinking about how much his mother loved his father- Horatio, Hamlet, and Marceliso Horatio says he is playing hooky from schoolo Hamlet: We’ll teach you to drink ‘ere you depart (we’re going to get wasted before you leave)o Talking about Hamlet’s fathero Horatio says he thinks he saw the king Hamlet yesterdayo Recounts to Hamlet about seeing the ghost o Hamlet says he thinks his father’s death was foul play- A play about how hard it is to diagnose anybodyII. Signal anxiety and compromise formation- There are things that we keep from our own consciousness—these things are taboo or things we do not want to accept- Freud thinks that we use defenses—we develop them very young to manage anxiety and trauma, because some things are too painful to think about- We learn to keep from consciousness thoughts/feelings/wishes/fears from our parents that we think will cause our parents to be angry from us/withhold their love for uso We develop defenses against expressing these thoughts etc.- People who are constantly depressed—think everything is bad, but don’t take your suggestions, are actually angry- Same with people who are angry all the time—their anger is hiding their sadness- Signal anxiety and the mobilization of defenseso Aggressive Wish: Push My Sister Hannah Down the Stairso Signal Anxiety: Fear of Losing Our Parents’ Love for uso Ego: Moves to Suppress the Wish By Mobilizing … o A Defense: Reaction Formation – “Don’t Fall Hannah!” Reversed the aggressive drive and replaced it defensively with a wish to save Hannah was in no danger of falling, she was in danger of being pushedo Sarah has aggressive wish to push Hannah, but gets anxious because she knows her parents will get angry, the mind experiences anxiety and mobilizes a defense (to forget the very thing she wants to do, her mind will take that very wish and switch it)o So instead of thinking I’m going to kill her, her mind mobilizes a defense (reaction formation) to suppress the wish, and “saves her”III. Concepts from “Fat Lady”- Transference o Transference—the feelings that the therapist brings up in the patient, may start to wonder how the therapist feels about them, the feelings the patient attaches to the therapist (but these feelings originated in other relationships)o Counter-transference—the feelings that the patient stirs up in the therapist, feelings that are idiosyncratic to the therapisto Psychotherapy is one human working with another—you don’t take what they say personallyo In “Fat Lady” the therapist was always repelled by fat women, stirred up intense feelings of countertransference in himo These feelings stem from the obesity-endemic of his family – he is associating  Speaks of his idealization of the woman’s body, society’s hatred for obese peopleo He decided to see her because he thought it would help him with his counter-transference towards obese womeno He began to realize how boring she was—he asks her to rate how open she is on a scale of 1-10, is astonished when she rates herself a ten- Therapist is using his counter-transference to help Bettyo Tells her that it doesn’t feel like she’s taking a risk with him—she aren’t being open with himo She finally opens up and talks about how hard it is to be the “jolly fat lady” She said she had a lot of friends, but no one knew her, she was always the listener / jokero Betty was acting in bad faith, she was all false gaiety, even with her therapist—tells him about a life full of despair but talks about it in a jolly wayo Therapist asks “Why is it necessary for you to entertain me?” Betty agreed that he could interrupt her whenever she was entertaining him. Through his counter-transference he is finally able to get her to open up.o More on this next