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Book Reviews |
This book is an excellent contribution to the understanding of erotic transference and countertransference in the psychoanalytic psychotherapeutic process. Mann, a British object relations theorist, private practitioner, and educator, draws on clinical developmental and new infant-observational theory to focus on the technical management of the erotic transference and countertransference. He presents abundant case material drawn from his own practice as well as work he encounters in clinical workshops in England and Europe. He also presents an outstanding review of the psychoanalytic literature, the poetry, the mythology, and the philosophy of love.
He begins by defining erotic transference as the center of fantasy life and avers that the erotic transference-countertransference dyad is potentially the deepest, most useful, and most constructive aspect of the analytic process if it is understood, dealt with, and not transgressed. The origins of the individual's erotic experiences are in the relationship with the mother. The taboo of the erotic mother- infant dyad is the basis of the resistance to dealing with these passions. It seems unlikely to Mann that the capacity to love is an end-result of therapy rather than an integral part of the work process itself.
Mann carefully reviews Freud's paper "Observations on Transference-Love" (1915) and the classical position of viewing erotic transference predominantly as a resistance. He then makes a forceful case for transference love as an expression of the positive transference and the patient's search for a new transformational object. Transference love, he argues, allows psychological growth and new opportunities for individuation and intrapsychic change.
The author delineates his similarities with and differences from the theoretical positions of Bergmann, Blum, Ogden, Person, Searles, Schaeffer, and Stoller on transference love. He holds that transference love and normal love are the same, indistinguishable and both real and genuine. Transference love is ubiquitous and is not limited to the therapeutic setting. The erotic development in a psychoanalysis is a therapeutic opportunity rather than merely a problem of resistance. The erotic can be a cover for narcissistic, aggressive, and projective dynamics, but it should not be considered a whole phenomenon of resistance just because it may have these constituent parts.
Thorough expositions of the problems in the Anna O. and Dora cases lead to the discussion of the erotic subjectivity of the analyst. No matter how experienced the analyst, it is the area of erotic subjectivity that he or she finds most difficult. The twin dangers are that the analyst will, on the one hand, repress, deny, and split off feelings, leading to displacement or projection onto the patient or, on the other hand, become overwhelmed by the feelings, leading to acting out with the patient. The erotic countertransference is divided into four positions by Mann: the erotic preoedipal mother, the erotic oedipal mother, the erotic preoedipal father, and the oedipal father. Erotic desire in the analyst should be considered in terms of the oedipal triad, and as such it is a part of normal and healthy development.
Mann explores Freud's study on the Wolf Man, "From the History of an Infantile Neurosis" (1918), to lead into a discussion of primal scene fantasy and primal scene transference and countertransference. The imaging of the primal scene is indispensable to the psyche. Good-enough images of the primal scene are a prerequisite for two people to be in a creative, intimate relationship together.
The homoerotic transference-countertransference poses particular difficulties within the broad range of erotic transactions in psychoanalysis. This matrix takes on a more anxious and sometimes paranoid quality in same-sex analytic dyads. The fear of enactments is greater, each member fearing a homosexual seduction. A full analysis is dependent on the therapist having the courage to grapple as much with the homoerotic as the heteroerotic in the transference. The positive homoerotic transference and countertransference matrix within analysis reproduces family transferences and plays a crucial maturational role. These desires have a deep influence on integrating maternal and paternal erotic identifications within the transference.
Mann defines perversion as a state of mind rather than as specific sexual activities. Transference perversions attempt to reduce the therapist to a thing, an object devoid of individual qualities. This inevitably results in a countertransference perversion as well. The latent hostility of perversions turns the love into hate, the good into bad. The perverse fantasies are the only form of object relating that is available to the patient. These patients may gradually relinquish their perverse states of mind when the transference is experienced as genuinely intimate rather than as sadomasochistic.
In summary, Mann argues that the erotic bond that links the transformational psychoanalytic couple in dialogue binds the unconscious of both participants whether they like it or not. The relationship obliges the dyad to experience the other in terms of unconscious erotic fantasy. This will take both participants, like lovers, to familiar places and also to where they have never been. This is a mutative process. Recognition of the transference-countertransference erotic fantasies contributes heavily to the creative process that is analytic. The ability to experience erotic desires that are objective and do not impinge on others is an indication of healthy ego functioning and development and mature awareness of the differences between self and others. With adequate working-through of the erotic transference-countertransference fantasy process, the patient is prepared for object relationships in the outside world that will not be as fraught with the binding repetitions of the past and will offer more freedom and creativity.
I found Mann's book very enjoyable reading and his concepts useful and refreshing to my clinical work. I did not find any part of it objectionable or unreasonable. It should be required reading for students and experienced practitioners alike.
Footnotes
Dr. Oscherwitz is Training and Supervising Analyst, Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute, Cincinnati, OH.
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