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Racial identities, racial enactments, and normative unconscious processes.
1layton@fas.harvard.edu
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|February 18, 2006
Summary
This study explores racial and ethnic identity, proposing a model that acknowledges its dual nature. It examines how social inequities and ideologies create narcissistic wounds, impacting patient and therapist dynamics in psychoanalytic practice.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Psychoanalysis
Background:
- Racial and ethnic identity are complex constructs with varying theoretical perspectives.
- Social inequities and sustaining ideologies can inflict psychological harm, termed narcissistic wounds.
- These wounds can manifest in therapeutic relationships, influencing both patient and therapist.
Purpose of the Study:
- To survey diverse views on racial and ethnic identity.
- To propose a model for understanding identity's dual character: oppressive and facilitating.
- To explore the enactment of narcissistic wounds within psychoanalytic practice.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of various perspectives on racial and ethnic identity.
- Theoretical model development for identity.
- Case study analysis of an Asian American patient's psychoanalytic treatment.
Main Results:
- Identity can be both oppressive and facilitating.
- Social inequities contribute to narcissistic wounds, enacted in therapy.
- Unconscious racial and cultural factors influence core psychoanalytic concepts like dependence, independence, happiness, and love.
Conclusions:
- A nuanced model of identity is crucial for understanding its impact in psychoanalysis.
- Therapists must recognize how social dynamics and unconscious processes affect the therapeutic relationship.
- Further exploration of racial and cultural underpinnings in psychoanalytic practice is warranted.