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A psychoanalytic contribution to psychic vampirism: a case vignette
1New Jersey Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis, USA.
American Journal of Psychoanalysis
|June 30, 2000
Summary
Early mother-child interactions involving maternal transformation can lead to vampiric anxieties and object constancy issues. These experiences may shape self-sacrificing relational patterns, contributing to universal myths.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalytic Theory
Background:
- Explores the symbolic representation of the vampire as an early mother figure.
- Addresses the psychological impact of maternal transformation on child development.
Observation:
- Investigates how a mother's physical transformation can induce profound anxiety and loss of object constancy in a child.
- Highlights potential responses such as emotional deadening and a need for constant availability.
Findings:
- Infantile experiences with a frightening, transforming mother can lead to vampiric anxieties.
- These experiences may foster extreme self-sacrificing relational patterns and masochistic object-relating.
- Identification with a demanding object can result in acquiring insatiable qualities.
Implications:
- Suggests that early maternal experiences of transformation contribute to universal human anxieties and myths.
- Highlights the vulnerability to "vampiric anxieties" stemming from inconsistent mothering.
- Connects early object relations to the development of self-sacrificing and masochistic tendencies.