Psychoanalysis of Symptoms Book

Preface     vii
Theoretical Context     1
History of Symptom Psychology     3
Other Authors     5
Anxiety     6
Repression and the Hint of a Key Emotion in Symptom Formation     7
The Idea of Constant Terms     8
Underpinnings of the Symptom-Code     9
Themes     9
Defining the Symptom     10
The Wish     12
The Gratified Wish Means Empowerment     13
Anger     14
On the Nature of Basic Emotions     17
How is Anger Managed?     17
The Symptom-Code and Its Application     19
Before the Symptom Forms     19
Formation of the Symptom     19
The All-Important Who     22
The Lifting of the Symptom     22
Definition of a Symptom Infrastructure     23
Implication     24
On Wishes, Symptoms, and Withdrawal     25
Positive versus Negative Symptoms     25
The Wish and its Relation to Ameliorating and Exacerbating Symptoms     25
The Symptom and the State of Withdrawal     26
The Line     27
The Clinical Casebook: Accessible Symptoms     29
Bottles Under the Bed: A Case of Compulsion     31
The Initial Consultation     31
Applying the Symptom-Code     32
Understanding the Symptom     34
Holes: A Case of Body Delusion     37
The Initial Consultation     37
Applying the Symptom-Code     38
Understanding the Symptom     41
Symptoms Based Upon Feelings of Rejection: Strangling, Sweats, and Death     43
A Case of Intrusive Thoughts of Strangling     43
The Initial Consultation     44
Applying the Symptom-Code     44
Understanding the Symptom     45
A Case of Nighttime Sweats     46
The Initial Consultation     47
Applying the Symptom-Code     48
Understanding the Symptom     49
A Case of Obsessive Thoughts of Death     49
The Initial Consultation     50
Applying the Symptom-Code     51
Understanding the Symptom     52
Gazing at Corpses: A Case of Morbid Compulsion     55
The Initial Consultation     56
Applying the Symptom-Code     57
Understanding the Symptom     58
Sin of the Priest: A Case of Obsession      59
The Initial Consultation     59
The Intrusive Thought     61
Applying the Symptom-Code     63
Understanding the Symptom     64
Ingenious Regression: A Case of Hallucination     67
The Initial Consultation     68
Applying the Symptom-Code     68
Understanding the Symptom     69
Panic on the Bridge: A Case of Selective Agoraphobia     71
The Initial Consultation     71
Applying the Symptom-Code     72
Understanding the Symptom     74
"I Can Hardly Move": A Case of a Three-Day Migraine     77
The Initial Consultation     78
Applying the Symptom-Code     79
Understanding the Symptom     80
Doubled Over: A Case of Displaced Phallic Obsession     83
The Initial Consultation     84
Applying the Symptom-Code     86
Understanding the Symptom     87
The Clinical Casebook: Inaccessible Symptoms     89
The Psychology of Blushing: Involuntary Disclosure of Success Wishes     91
The Symptom-Code and the Infrastructure of Blushing     92
A Case of Blushing in a 70-Year-Old Businessman     93
Applying the Symptom-Code      94
A Case of Blushing in a 40-Year-Old Librarian     95
Applying the Symptom-Code     96
A Case of Blushing in a 28-Year-Old Physician     97
Applying the Symptom-Code     98
Commonalities of the Cases     99
"No Writing!": A Case of Delusional Self-Incrimination     101
The Delusion     102
Applying the Symptom-Code     103
"I'm Not Going To Work Today": A Case of Agoraphobia     107
Applying the Symptom-Code     109
Chaos: A Case of Compulsive Collecting and Hoarding     111
Applying the Symptom-Code     113
Not Thin Enough!: A Case of Anorexia     115
Applying the Symptom-Code     117
What Does the Anorectic Symptom Really Say?     118
Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Case of Split Personality     121
Basic Formation of the Dissociative Identity Disorder (Split Personality)     123
Applying the Symptom-Code     124
An Asperger's Mind: An Examination of the Case of Nobelian John Forbes Nash, Jr.     127
Diagnosis     128
Asperger's Syndrome     128
The Proposed Deep Structure of Nash's Schizophrenia     130
Dynamic Elements of Nash's Problem     130
Applying the Symptom-Code     134
Treatment     136
Conclusion     137
Examining Theoretical Issues of the Symptom-Code     139
Acting Out: The First Symptom and the Primacy of Anger or Sex     141
Is it Anger or Sex?     141
The Primacy of Anger     142
The Psychoanalytic Understanding of Acting Out     143
Abridging Traditional Psychoanalytic Understanding of Symptom Formation     144
Illustrations with Clinical Vignettes     145
Summary     147
Symptoms Versus Character Traits: Accessible Versus Inaccessible Symptoms     149
What, Why, Who, When, Where, and How What Happens?     150
What Happens?     150
Why Does it Happen?     151
Where Does it Happen?     153
When Does it Happen?     154
Who is the Who?     154
How Does it All Happen?     155
The Metamorphosis of Symptoms: The Domain of Wishes and the Domain of Traits     157
The Class of Character Defenses     158
The Wish and the Anger     160
The Migration of Symptoms in the Psyche     161
Summary     162
Coda     163
References      165
Index     167