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As-if: the phenomenon of not learning
The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|January 1, 1990
Summary
Patients resist emotional learning in analysis, maintaining a static state to prevent disintegration. This paper explores
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
Background:
- Patients often engage in psychoanalysis for emotional growth.
- Some patients, however, resist this process, seeking stasis instead.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a clinical problem where patients maintain a static analytic state.
- To introduce and explain the concept of 'slicing' as a defense mechanism.
- To link this phenomenon with Wilfred Bion's concept of 'minus K'.
Main Methods:
- Case study analysis of four patients.
- Clinical observation and theoretical discussion.
Main Results:
- Identified a patient group that invests energy in maintaining a static analytic condition.
- Described 'slicing' as a specific splitting mechanism to prevent disintegration.
- Illustrated how these patients require a non-productive analysis for this defense.
Conclusions:
- The defense mechanism of 'slicing' arrests further disintegration in certain patients.
- This stasis is maintained through a continuous, yet ineffective, psychoanalysis.
- The phenomenon is related to Bion's concept of 'minus K', indicating a resistance to psychic change.