HD 3700 1st Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I. Hamlet and his “step father”II. Signal anxiety and compromise formationIII. Compromise formation in the formulation of “Fat Lady”Outline of Current LectureI. Freud and the dynamic mindII. Case Study: JoeIII. Compromise formation in the formulation of “Fat Lady”IV. The Oedipal struggle of “The Laughing Man”Current LectureI. Freud and the dynamic mind- The dynamic mind is the notion that the mind is complex- Everything is mental associationso Attention—associating to what you’re perceivingo Creativity, love etc.- We have associations we are aware of, and associations we are not aware of—thoughts that are taboo, culturally unacceptable- We build neural networks of memories that we associate too Our early experiences are always part of our associations- The anticipated life historyo Narrative describing the course of their future life from now to death, notan idealized life but the life you plausibly expect to liveo Coded early memory of mother and father, on negative and positive aspectso The more negative the early memory of your mother was, the more likely your future life narrative was on depressive dimensiono Follow up five years later—give a new life narrative, same exact stats! When people use their imagination, they are implicitly using their early memories When you are imagining something in your future, part of your brain is associating to your path- Model of a dynamic mindo Early memories are part of it—early trauma, feelings, wishes, thoughtso Hysterics—minds associating in a certain way that was causing symptoms—that is a model of the dynamic mindo Prof is asking us to consider the dynamic mind, not all of Freud’s ideas Asking us to recognize that the mind is complex with forces underneath that are affecting mood, thoughts etc.- Signal anxiety and the mobilization of defenses o Children become anxious when their parents are angry with them, they can anticipate when their parents might get angry with themo This anxiety mobilizes the mind to defend against this thought—a defenseis the way that the mind alters mental associations o In the case of Sarah the ego mobilizes the defense, reaction formationII. Case Study: Joe- Joe is a first year student at Cornell. He comes from a middle class family living in a small city in Pennsylvania. His dad is a pharmaceuticals salesman, his mom is a teacher, and his little sister is fourteen and beginning high school.- Joe’s father is doing well financially but always thought he should have done better and been more successful. Since Joe was one of the best students in his class and the first from his school to attend Cornell, his dad was especially proud.- Joe’s mother always “thought the world” of him, and was sometimes impatient with her husband. They had a good marriage, but Joe was always, somehow, aware of the tension between them.- They drive Joe to Ithaca, drop him off at his dorm, and though a bit surprised by how sad he is to see them go, he jumps feet first into campus life. He joins clubs, makes friends, chooses good courses … and finds he can’t get himself to study. He falls asleep or feels too “antsy” to study, and by the fourth week he’s really concerned. By the sixth week, having done poorly on several prelims, arrives at CAPS, the university counseling, for help.- Even with therapy, they are making no progress. o One day, he looks at the therapist and asks if the therapist is feeling bad about himself. Joe says “you’ve been trying to help me, but I’m not getting better, maybe do you think you’re a bad therapist?”o Therapist immediately recognizes Joe’s problem. - Joe does not want to surpass his father, by being more successful than him o Joe is trying to protect his dad from his mom’s criticism, once he realizes this, it frees up Joe so that he can succeed- Joe’s Compromise Formationo “I want to succeed but I can’t seem to get to work …”o Conscious Wish: To Succeed at Cornello Unconscious Wishes:  To Protect Father To Surpass Father  To Be Mom’s Favoriteo Guilt about being more successful than his fathero Conflict between conscious and unconscious wishes and fearso SIGNAL ANXIETY  COMPROMISE FORMATIONo He comes to college, “tries” to work, but finds he can’t do it. The Conscious & Unconscious Wishes are Partially Gratifiedo We are less aware of our fear of success…- Take away from Freudo When you’re in conflict—that is what causes symptoms What will cause problems for you are things that you are not able to resolve because you’re in conflictIII. Concepts from Fat Lady- Transferenceo Betty has transference towards therapist—speaks of wanting to be a therapist too- Counter-transferenceo Therapist had a need to idealize women, hated obese women- Defenses within the houro Therapist realized that Betty was trying to entertain him, in an attempt to distract him, and herself, from her real feelingso This distraction kept her out of touch of processing the grief of her father’s death, which she never really faced o Betty admits that she is never genuine with anyoneo Once the therapist stops her from distracting, the grief comes out, and she is honest and engaging - Interpreting the defenseso Betty’s memories as she loses weight Betty gained weight after her father died from cancer, steadily gained for 20 years  Working through Carlos’ dying of cancer allows her to work through her father’s death from cancer Goes on diet, starts to lost weight As she loses weight, she beings to remember emotionally where she was in her life at these lower weights - Re-experienced the traumatic/unresolved events of her lifewhen she was at the certain weight - Betty’s body remembered what her consciousness had forgot - Memories of her father permeated these flashbacks- More she approached the weight she was when her father died, the more memories she had of him- It was her own life, not her father’s, that was unfulfilled - Part of the reason she gained weight was a magical way of not dying, of being like her father before he got sicko Associated weight loss with dying- Compromise formationo “I want to lose weight and be close to a man. but…”o Conscious wish: To live her life fullyo Unconscious wishes: To marry her father, to surpass her mothero Unconscious fear: To be thin is to waste away and die, To live is to risk terrible losso