In Issue 5 of the IJP...

As many readers will be aware, transgender has become a contested area?in?psychoanalysis.?In?the?first paper?of?issue?5,?Alessandra Lemma adopts?what she calls a “trans-receptive” position: an?uncommitted?stance on what a transgender identification means, so that?the?analyst can be truly receptive to?the?meanings it has for different people.?

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In?her?psychotherapeutic work with young transgender patients, Lemma focuses on working through what is “missing” from?the?gender transitions –?the?unconscious grief and difficulties attached to?the?natal body – feelings that are?often split?off?in?the?haste to medically transition. Lemma’s patients are?invited to bring photographs?of?themselves, pre-transition, and as?the?analytic pair explore?these photographs?of?the?patients’ “natal” body,?they are able to work through what?the?pre-transitioned, natal body unconsciously represents.

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“The?modified body will be an unstable physical home for?the?self unless?the?pre-modified body and its history can be elaborated, reflected upon and woven?into?the?person’s?individual narrative about who?they are.”

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Though psychoanalysis has only recently been?interested?in?the?concept?of?“identity”, it has always?offered subtle accounts?of?how human identity is constructed through processes?of?projection, identification,?introjection, and repression. But can we speak?of?a psychoanalytic identity??

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In?the?latest Psychoanalytic Controversy,?Elizabeth Allison writes:?“identity is not given, nor is it fixed and stable, and it is always riven with contradictions due to?the?mind’s dynamic nature. And yet we are all very familiar with?the?wish to make definitive statements about psychoanalytic identity: to say with certainty what is or is not psychoanalysis”.?

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The?authors?of?this Psychoanalytic Controversy were asked: What constitutes a psychoanalytic identity? “Is this a question that it is worthwhile to ask, or does it imply something too fixed and determined? If it is?the?wrong question, what alternative questions for self-reflection could we pose? If it is a helpful question, what are some possible answers? Do some?of?the?possible answers challenge current unreflected assumptions?”

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Reflecting on his?own journey?of?becoming an analyst,?Ricardo Bernardi claims?that psychoanalytic identity is “in?vivo” – it is an authentic, lived experience, socially and historically situated. Psychoanalysts need a pluralistic professional identity, and clinical facts must come before?theory.

Alessandra Lemma considers?psychoanalytic identity as a type?of?professional identity. Psychoanalysis has an ethical obligation to be able to represent its identity coherently and transparently to others, while being alive to?the?“work?of?identity”, reflecting on its own assumptions and ideals.

In?his Lacanian reading?of?identity?Lionel Bailly argues?that we are losing touch with?the?“common human experience” that what we say is not always true to our unconscious. “The?terror?of?facing subjective truth has led to?the?criticising?of?the?assumption?of?a common “human experience” irrespective?of?unique differences, and to a wish to ignore or even erase this way?of?thinking.”

In?her account?of?how psychoanalysis might help us understand racism,?Sharon Numa?writes:?“Whether we think?of?deep-seated racism as a manifestation?of?Freud’s “death drive” or as part?of?the?... anxieties that belong to?the?paranoid schizoid position, it surely reflects?the?primitive hatred and aggression that need to be expelled outwards?into?the?object world,?the?“not-me.”?

“Identity is a paradoxical expression for psychoanalysis,”?writes Louise Gyler, because psychoanalysis places importance on “becoming,?the?decentring?of?subjectivity and?the?avoidance?of?rigid identifications.”?Situating her own experiences?in?the?Asian Pacific region, she finds a common thread?of?psychoanalytic identity?in?the?analyst’s maternal passion and receptivity.?

Our authors have?offered diverse views on psychoanalytic identity, but what do our readers think? We welcome Letters to?the?Editor on?the?issue.?

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Back?in?1961,?the?American analyst Henry Harper Hart argued that?the?term “passivity” was?in?constant use?in?psychoanalysis, but it has not been adequately defined. Have we come any further?in?understanding this commonly used term,?asks Catherine Humble,?in?her?introduction to?the?Education Section on Passivity.?

Heinz Weiss’s paper?looks at human – and analytic –?receptiveness:?the?capacity to be open to?the?other, which one might say requires a passive stance. How might psychoanalytic and phenomenological approaches to ‘passive’?receptivity?mutually enrich and learn from each other, he asks. Drawing on?the?work?of?Husserl, Weiss claims that?the?analyst occupies a fluctuating position between?receptive?and?explorative, passive?and?active:?

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“shifting between a passive, receptive and an active-explorative attitude is a precondition to make proper judgement?in?the?analytic situation. [But] receptive experience is not merely passive, and active judgement is only meaningful if it refers to primary receptive experience.”

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Addressing?the?hotly debated?issue?of?Freud’s writing on feminine passivity,?Ursula Ostendorf?argues?that Freud continuously scrutinised his?feminine-passivity?equation. He championed?the?powerful,?active?role?of?the?mother, stating that a “mother is active?in?every sense towards her child;?the?act?of?lactation itself may equally be described as?the?mother suckling?the?baby or as her being sucked by it.”

Ostendorf goes on to explores?the?concept?of?masochism. At?the?heart?of?masochism is a contradictory force –?the?active?transfer?of?aggression on to another, which leaves?the?self?passive, vulnerable. But a huge amount?of?volition is required to?turn?the?other cheek. Through attachment to suffering and resistance to getting well, passive refusal can be?the?ultimate attack.

Where Ostendorf’s paper makes a case for?the?liberal, feminist Freud, did he do enough to challenge?the?view?of?women as?the?weaker, passive sex??Lisa Baraitser returns?to this vexed question. Surveying psychoanalytic debates around gender and sexuality, Baraitser stresses?the?real, adverse social effects that?the?view?of?feminine passivity has had on women.?In?light?of?the?powerful feminist critiques?of?Freud, does passivity have any value for psychoanalysis, Baraitser asks.?

Answering?in?the?affirmative, she formulates a constructive mode?of?passivity she calls ?‘stillness’ - a kind?of?mental stuckness or psychic?inertia, a wish to stop, which might be understood as an important state?of?mind - even a psychic achievement. Linking this stillness to her notion?of?the?‘maternal’, Baraitser conceives?of?a generative passivity – a passivity that is open and alive.

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As always,?these are a few snapshots from?the?full edition which we hope you enjoy. A reminder that our next?Study Day?will take place on?17th February, 2024,?2pm UK time, when?Richard Zimmer?will present his paper, “Post-Termination Self-Analysis and?the?Relinquishment?of?the?Psychoanalytic Frame”, discussed by Fakhry Davids and Clara Nemas.?Please save?the?date.

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Remember to book your place at?the?IJP Conference,?Celebrating?the?Work?of?Dana Birksted-Breen?(13th?January 2024). And keep up to date with?the?latest IJP news by following us on?Facebook?and?X (formerly Twitter)?@The_IJP

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Francis Grier

Training Analyst and Supervisor BPAS

Editor-in-Chief,?International Journal?of?Psychoanalysis

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Catherine Humble

Executive Editor,?International Journal?of?Psychoanalysis