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AFFECT, SYMPTOM, FANTASY, DREAM: CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Eugene J Mahon¹

¹Training and Supervising Analyst at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, and is a member of the New York Freudian Society.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

|June 20, 2017

Summary

This study explores how psychological symptoms like premature ejaculation can mirror unconscious feelings. Analyzing symptoms, dreams, and fantasies revealed deeper emotional patterns and led to symptom resolution.

Keywords:

Affect analytic process character traits dreams fantasy free association guilt maturity/prematurity premature ejaculation regression symptoms transference-countertransference unconscious processes

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic Therapy

Background:

Psychological symptoms often reflect underlying unconscious affects.
Understanding the symbolic relationship between symptoms and emotions is key in psychoanalytic treatment.

Observation:

A case study examined premature ejaculation as analogous to unconscious guilt.
This guilt was interpreted as a premature defensive transformation of underlying anger.
The symptom's functioning was mirrored in fantasies, such as 'premature incarceration'.

Findings:

The analysis demonstrated how symptoms, fantasies, and dreams share analogous transformations.
The integrative analytic process involved analyzing affect, symptom, fantasy, and dream.
Resolution of the symptom was achieved through this complex analytic approach.

Implications:

This case provides insight into the mind's complex, integrative functioning.
It highlights the potential for deep understanding through analyzing the interplay of symptoms and unconscious affects.
The findings support the efficacy of psychodynamic approaches in treating psychological symptoms.