Contact barriers between Freud, Bion and Winnicott.

The author discusses the idea that psychoanalysts could benefit from a common paradigm, not necessarily a single theory, but a general frame through which to view their work. Focusing on perception as a basic modality of psychic life, in combination with the system-environment approach, could provide this common baseline. The text explores how this approach relates to the work of Freud, Bion, and Winnicott, emphasizing the interconnectedness of systems and their environments, the role of perception, and the concept of a contact barrier.

Desexualization: An interesting problem in .

The sudden appearance of the term "desexualization" in The Ego and the Id is considered as a marker of the subtle, almost unnoticeable changes that occurred in Freud's thinking after 1920. The strict dichotomy between life and death drives posed a series of new problems that force Freud to invoke a "desexualized libido" in order to restore some fluidity in the psychic apparatus. But the mechanism of desexualization was difficult to describe and Freud seems to resort to a circular explanation.

Trauma, subjectivity and subjectality.

Taking a critical stand on contemporary trends in psychoanalysis regarding trauma, the author addresses the problem of psychic trauma mainly in terms of how it affects the patient's status as a subject. After reexamining the notions of subject and subjectivity, the author illustrates the usefulness of the notion of "subjectality," defined as a critical moment of subjectivity, necessary for processing the consequences of trauma. A clinical illustration is provided.

The Sexual and psychical reality.

Not everything is sexual in the psychoanalytic conception of the human condition, but the Sexual is at the core of the central conceptual cluster of psychoanalysis, along with translation/repression, resistance, transference and the time structure (). For all its importance, the Sexual should not be used by psychoanalysts as their single interpretive key. Laplanche's Generalized Seduction Theory, with the translational model of the mind at its core, rather suggests that the Sexual, with its enigmatic presentation to the infant's psyche, is the "Question" to which psychopathology is the non-evolutive, arrested and problematic set of "Answers.

TEN SHORT ESSAYS ON HOW TRAUMA IS INEXTRICABLY WOVEN INTO PSYCHIC LIFE.

The author contends that it is possible to reconcile trauma and drive theories of psychopathology if we carefully examine the general notion of trauma and reexamine Freud's () theory of war neurosis and of repression itself as an elementary form of traumatic neurosis. The logic of these views follows Laplanche's reintroduction and generalization of the seduction theory in contemporary psychoanalysis.

Unconscious phantasy and its conceptualizations: An attempt at conceptual integration.

That there is a lack of consensus as to how to decide between competing, at times even contradictory theories, and about how to integrate divergent concepts and theories is well known. In view of this situation, the IPA Committee on Conceptual Integration (2009-2013) developed a method for comparing the different versions of any given concept, together with the underlying theories and fundamental assumptions on which they are based. Only when situated in the same frame of reference do similarities and differences begin to appear in a methodically comprehensible and reproducible form.

The three essays and the meaning of the infantile sexual in psychoanalysis.

Freud's Three Essays on Sexual Theory (1905a) are still today highly significant because of their novel way of considering the human sexual dimension. The author intends to show that a close reading of the Essays, combined with the reintroduction of the seduction theory by Jean Laplanche, provides a specific and foundational sexual theory for psychoanalysis.

A brief introduction to the work of Jean Laplanche.

The author proposes an introduction to the work of Jean Laplanche, a well-known figure of psychoanalysis who recently passed away. He foregrounds what he views as the three main axes of Laplanche's work: firstly, a critical reading method applied to Freud's texts; secondly, a model of psychic functioning based on translation; and, thirdly, a theory of general seduction. Far from being an abstract superstructure, the theory of general seduction is firmly rooted in the analytic situation, as the provocation of transference by the analyst best illustrates.

Towards a better use of psychoanalytic concepts: a model illustrated using the concept of enactment.

It is well known that there is a lack of consensus about how to decide between competing and sometimes mutually contradictory theories, and how to integrate divergent concepts and theories. In view of this situation the IPA Project Committee on Conceptual Integration developed a method that allows comparison between different versions of concepts, their underlying theories and basic assumptions. Only when placed in a frame of reference can similarities and differences be seen in a methodically comprehensible and reproducible way.

A matter of time: actual time and the production of the past.

In psychoanalytic theory, space metaphors are frequently used to describe the psychic apparatus. As for time, it is traditionally invoked under the heading of timelessness of the unconscious, more aptly described as the resistance of the repressed to wearing away with time. This paper examines how the insertion of time into psychic events and structural differentiation form a single process.