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Doubt in the analysis of a paedophile
Abstract
In this single case study, I will address the question of how incestuous sexual abuse causes doubt of three distinct types: (1) honest doubt that is essential to the pursuit of knowledge; (2) inherent doubt that can result from a trauma that leaves the victim's mind fragmented and confused; and (3) the sadistic imposition of doubt intended to deceive, disorient and attack unbearable knowledge in the victim or another person familiar with the abuse (in this case, the analyst and the victim's later victims). During the course of my psychoanalysis of a paedophile, it became clear that this third form of doubt played an integral role in the patient's sexual abuse of children, a role I will link to the nature and function of paedophilia and to the experience of working psychoanalytically with a paedophile.
... Moreover, children's sexual abuse by older generation-especially by parents-violates generational boundaries and sexual barriers. According to Campbell (2014) pedophilic relationship can be a trigger for the abuser's unconscious oedipal fantasy. Glasser (1988) states that when pedophilic individuals were "boys", they had intense sexual feelings towards their parents. ...
... However, this article did not focus on interventions and/or treatment. In order to understand the reasons of pedophile and address this subject, it is crucial to conduct research by collaboration of various disciplines (Seto, 2002;Campbell, 2014;Bahroo, 2005). ...
Pedophilia, derived from Greek words philia of pedeiktos meaning erotic love of children (Seto, 2002) includes using children as a sexual excitement object to reach gratification. In most cultures children are not deemed as mature enough to make decisions about sexual intercourse. In this regard, child sexual abuse is not only intolerable, but is also sanctioned in many societies. Pedophilia is considered a controversial and unpleasant subject for many clinicians; therefore, most of them avoid conducting research on this topic. In the literature, there is no absolute and consistent classification and also diagnostic criteria of pedophile has changed over time. Although different theories such as psychoanalytic, attachment and Ferenczi’s trauma theory propose some explanations regarding the reasons for pedophilia, there is no satisfactory elucidation about this topic. Pedophilia is a multidisciplinary concern and requires a bio-psycho-socio-legal plan for intervention, it is crucial to conduct research by collaboration of various disciplines and understand this subject is important and necessary to address this issue. This current study is an attempt to understand pedophilia by looking from different perspectives.
... Moreover, children's sexual abuse by older generation-especially by parents-violates generational boundaries and sexual barriers. According to Campbell (2014) pedophilic relationship can be a trigger for the abuser's unconscious oedipal fantasy. Glasser (1988) states that when pedophilic individuals were "boys", they had intense sexual feelings towards their parents. ...
... However, this article did not focus on interventions and/or treatment. In order to understand the reasons of pedophile and address this subject, it is crucial to conduct research by collaboration of various disciplines (Seto, 2002;Campbell, 2014;Bahroo, 2005). ...
Pedophilia, derived from Greek words philia of pedeiktos meaning erotic love of children (Seto, 2002) includes using children as a sexual excitement object to reach gratification. In most cultures children are not deemed as mature enough to make decisions about sexual intercourse. In this regard, child sexual abuse is not only intolerable, but is also sanctioned in many societies. Pedophilia is considered a controversial and unpleasant subject for many clinicians; therefore, most of them avoid conducting research on this topic. In the literature, there is no absolute and consistent classification and also diagnostic criteria of pedophile has changed over time. Although different theories such as psychoanalytic, attachment and Ferenczi's trauma theory propose some explanations regarding the reasons for pedophilia, there is no satisfactory elucidation about this topic. Pedophilia is a multidisciplinary concern and requires a bio-psycho-socio-legal plan for intervention, it is crucial to conduct research by collaboration of various disciplines and understand this subject is important and necessary to address this issue. This current study is an attempt to understand pedophilia by looking from different perspectives. PEDOFİLİYİ TANIMAK ÖZ Çocuklara yönelik erotik sevgi anlamına gelen Yunanca "pedeiktos" (çocuk) ve "philia" (sevgi) sözcüklerinden gelen pedofili (Seto, 2002), çocukların cinsel uyarım nesnesi olarak kullanılmasını içerir. Çoğu kültürde, çocuklar cinsel ilişki hakkında karar vermek için yeterince olgun olarak kabul edilmezler. Bu bağlamda, çocuk cinsel istismarı sadece tahammül edilemez olarak görülmekle kalmaz, aynı zamanda pek çok toplumda cezai yaptırıma da bağlanırr. Pedofili birçok klinisyen için tartışmalı ve hoş olmayan bir konu olarak kabul edilir; bu nedenle, çoğu klinisyen bu konuda araştırma yapmaktan kaçınır. Literatürde, pedofili için mutlak ve tutarlı bir sınıflandırma bulunmamaktadır. Aynı zamanda pedofili tanı kriterlerinin de zaman içerisinde değiştiği görülmektedir. Psikanalitik, bağlanma ve Ferenczi'nin travma teorisi gibi farklı teoriler pedofilinin nedenlerine ilişkin bazı açıklamalar önermesine rağmen, bu konu hakkında tatmin edici bir açıklama yoktur. Pedofili çok disiplinli bir meseledir ve biyo-psiko-sosyo-yasal bir müdahale planı gerektirmektedir, Pedofili konusunun ele alınmasında çeşitli disiplinlerin işbirliği ile araştırma yapması ve konuyu anlaması çok önemli ve gereklidir. Bu çalışma, farklı perspektiflerden bakılarak pedofiliyi anlama girişimidir.
... Also, Campbell's research (2014) addresses the issue of how incestuous sexual abuse induces doubts of three distinct types: (a) truthful doubt that is essential to the pursuit of knowledge; (b) inherent doubt that may result from a trauma that leaves the victim's mind fractured and confused; and (c) the sadistic force of doubt aimed at deceiving, disorienting and targeting insupportable knowledge in the victim's mind. During paedophile psychoanalysis in Campbell (2014), it became clear that this third form of doubt played an integral part in the sexual abuse of children by the patient. ...
Worship is practised by all Muslims worldwide, and even every Muslim can see that every worship will keep his practiser from sinning. Yet there is no question that some of these religious groups are engaged in inhumane acts by rendering their sexual pleasure perpetrators to children. Most paedophiles in Malaysia are figures of religious authority and give the religious teachings themselves a negative image. The problem is, does not the worship conducted, preclude the practitioner from sinning? To this end, this article aims to describe the philosophy of Sufism in worship, specifically Islamic foundations, as a study of paedophilia issues in care. Through implementing qualitative approaches, this article found that theories of Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and Said Hawwa (d. 1989) were able to incorporate the Sufism meaning and observance in worship, while at the same time rendering the Islamic cornerstone a significant influence on the way of life of a believer.
The narratives of individuals using child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) highlight the individual and unconscious functions of this type of sexual offense. Fluid cycles of projection into and identification with the children in the imagery were evident, as were marked differences in the intensity and exclusivity of pedophilic sexual preference. Anger was a common trigger, but conscious awareness of any associated hostilities toward the child in the imagery was vigorously defended against. The Internet, the now dominant context of child sexual abuse, offers a distinct type of environment, on the porous boundary between the internal and the external, that seems to encourage regression to early, varied paraphilic sexuality and part‐object relations. Interactions in online forums facilitated the projection of pedophilic interests and sadistic impulses into other users. Broad empirical findings on the characteristics of those who use CSEM, coupled with this study and clinical experience, suggest that many who engage in this activity have an essentially neurotic structure.
When a patient presents for psychotherapy having accessed illegal images of children online, it may be impossible to know at the outset whether this reflects an enduring sexual interest in children, or the transient emergence of paedophilic sexual interest associated with a breakdown in ego functioning. Concerns about risk and the emotive nature of paedophilia may undermine the therapist's or analyst's capacity to tolerate uncertainty and maintain analytic neutrality, leading to premature assumptions about the nature of the underlying pathology. This paper describes the treatment of a patient who had a conviction for viewing indecent images of children online, and the challenge of suspending judgement and maintaining analytic doubt while exploring the meaning of his actions. There was a pressure towards a sadomasochistic transference in which the therapist would be perceived to be cruel if doubting him, but weak and naive if not questioning him. Analytic work over seven years led to a formulation of his acting out as reflecting, not enduring paedophilia, but a ‘paedophilic breakdown’. Changes were evident in his psychic functioning and his external life, as well as in the quality of the therapeutic process. The countertransference challenges of this work are discussed.
A pesar del hecho de que el autoanálisis de Freud fue central en muchos de sus descubrimientos, el autoanálisis sigue siendo un ejercicio complejo, controvertido y difícil de entender. Mientras que el autoanálisis a menudo se ve como emergente al final de un análisis y entonces se utiliza como un criterio para evaluar la idoneidad para la terminación, yo intento acompanhar a la resistencia del paciente al autoanálisis a lo largo del análisis. Considero que el desarrollo de la capacidad del paciente para el autoanálisis dentro de la sesión analítica contribuye al crecimiento del paciente y su pensamiento creativo e independiente durante el análisis, preparándolo para una vida más plena después de que termina el análisis formal. El modelo que presentaré es basado en una superposición del autoanálisis del paciente y del analista, con el reconocimiento y uso de la contratransferencia del analista. Mi foco está en el autoanálisis del analista que responde a una crisis particular de no saber, que resulta en sentirse intelectual y emocionalmente atascado. No siendo este trabajo un estudio de caso, es una breve mirada al proceso por el que pasé para llegar a una interpretación determinada, con un paciente particular, durante una sesión particular. Me concentraré en las resistencias en las que tanto paciente como analista se apoyaron inicialmente como conscientemente conocidas.
Positiiviset psykoanalyyttiset tulevaisuusvisiot Tässä artikkelissa kuvaamme positiivisia psykoanalyyttisia tulevaisuuden visioita. Ajankohtaisesti psykoanalyysi kohtaa monenlaisia reaktiivisuuteen vetoavia paineita ja haasteita, joiden keskellä on tärkeää luoda omasta käsin aktiivisesti tulevaisuuden kuvia. Näitä kysymyksiä lähestymme kol-mesta näkökulmasta: ensin kuvaamme ajanhengen jokaiselle psykoanalyytikolle esittämää vaadetta psyykkiselle työlle. Toiseksi, suomalaisten asiantuntijahaastatteluiden kautta lähestytään tulevai-suutta viidestä näkökulmasta: mitkä ovat psykodynaamisen tutkimuksen tulevaisuuden haasteet, miten psykodynaamista ajattelua voi muokata lyhytpsykoterapeuttiseen raamiin, voiko kohdatuksi tulemista tuotteistaa, miten psykoanalyysi voisi avautua rohkeaan vuorovaikutukseen maailman kanssa sekä mikä säilyy kaikesta huolimatta psykoanalyysin ytimenä tulevaisuudessa. Kolmanneksi, kuvaamme ulkomailla kehitettyjä psykoanalyyttista ajattelua käyttäviä hoitomalleja erityisesti vai-keasti hoidettavien potilaiden osalta: pedofiilien, psykopaattien, skitsofreenikoiden ja itsemurhaan kiinnittyneiden nuorten psykoterapiaa. Kuinka syvälle ihmismieleen transformatiivisuus voi päästä ja millä keinoilla? Lopuksi, keräämme nämä psykoanalyyttisen ajattelun hyvät tulevaisuusvisiot yhteen nivoen niistä jotain mihin tarttua.
Avainsanat: Psykoanalyysi, tulevaisuus, ihmismielen muutoskyky, psykoanalyyttinen olento.
In spite of the fact that Freud's self-analysis was at the centre of so many of his discoveries, self-analysis remains a complex, controversial and elusive exercise. While self-analysis is often seen as emerging at the end of an analysis and then used as a criteria in assessing the suitability for termination, I try to attend to the patient's resistance to self-analysis throughout an analysis. I take the view that the development of the patient's capacity for self-analysis within the analytic session contributes to the patient's growth and their creative and independent thinking during the analysis, which prepares him or her for a fuller life after the formal analysis ends. The model I will present is based on an over lapping of the patient's and the analyst's self-analysis, with recognition and use of the analyst's counter-transference. My focus is on the analyst's self-analysis that is in response to a particular crisis of not knowing, which results in feeling intellectually and emotionally stuck. This paper is not a case study, but a brief look at the process I went through to arrive at a particular interpretation with a particular patient during a particular session. I will concentrate on resistances in which both patient and analyst initially rely upon what is consciously known.
Paedophilia is distinguished from incest. The classification of paedophilia into ‘Invariant’ and ‘Pseudo-Neurotic’ types is made and clinically illustrated. Some features of the psychopathological structure which paedophilia has in common with other perversions are described and the paper goes on to consider the influences these features have on the paedophiles' internal and external object-relating and their detrimental effects on the paedophiles' formative psychic processes and consequent character structure.
A primary interest of the field of infant mental health is in the early conditions that place infants at riskfor less than optimal development. The fundamental problem of what constitutes normal and abnormal development is now a focus of developmental psychology, infant psychiatry, and devel- opmental neuroscience. In the second part of this sequential work, I present interdisciplinary data to more deeply forge the theoretical links between severe attachment failures, impairments of the early develop- ment of the right brain's stress coping systems, and maladaptive infant mental health. In the following, I offer thoughts on the negative impact of traumatic attachments on brain development and infant mental health, the neurobiology of infant trauma, the neuropsychology of a disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern associated with abuse and neglect, trauma-induced impairments of a regulatory system in the orbitofrontal cortex, the links between orbitofrontal dysfunction and a predisposition to posttraumatic stress disorders, the neurobiology of the dissociative defense, the etiology of dissociation and body- mind psychopathology, the effects of early relational trauma on enduring right hemispheric function, and some implications for models of early intervention. These findings suggest direct connections between traumatic attachment, inefficient right brain regulatory functions, and both maladaptive infant and adult mental health.
This first English edition of "Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie" has been translated by James Strachey. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
general background: the interrelated systems of the brain / the psychobiological symptomology of PTSD [physiological arousal, loss of emotions as signals] / psychophysiological effects of trauma [conditioned responses to specific stimuli, hyperarousal to intense but neutral stimuli] / neurohormonal effects of trauma [background: neurohormones and their roles in the stress response, specific neuroendocrine abnormalities in PTSD] / developmental level affects the psychobiological effects of trauma [trauma, neurohormones, and memory consolidation] / trauma and the central nervous system [background: structures and functions of the limbic system, "emotional memory may be forever," specific limbic system abnormalities in PTSD, lateralization] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
I propose to summarize some of the conclusions presented in this paper. One of my main points was the suggestion that in the first few months of life anxiety is predominantly experienced as fear of persecution and that this contributes to certain mechanisms and defenses which characterize the paranoid and schizoid positions. Outstanding among these defenses is the mechanism of splitting internal and external objects, emotions, and the ego. These mechanisms and defenses are part of normal development and at the same time form the basis for later schizophrenic illness. I described the processes underlying identification by projection as a combination of splitting off parts of the self and projecting them on to another person, and some of the effects this identification has on normal and schizoid object relations. The onset of the depressive position is the juncture at which by regression schizoid mechanisms may be reinforced. I also suggested a close connection between the manic-depressive and schizoid disorders, based on the interaction between the infantile schizoid and depressive positions.
This paper considers the psychopathology and treatment of a particular group of narcissistic disorders which can be characterized by their use of 'simulation' in their attempt to resolve the conflicts of the Core Complex. The invasive, narcissistic mother's demand for success is responded to with an evident compliance but with a covert rebellion manifested in failure, accompanied by intense feelings of shame and low self-esteem. This is seen in the analysis in the patient's apparently positive response being followed by a Negative Therapeutic Reaction. The structure is seen to be as much concerned with protecting the mother from the infant's destructiveness as it is with protecting the infant from the colonizing mother (cf. Winnicott's 'False Self'). What is regarded as the hallmark of narcissistic disorders, namely shame, is found to be part of a defensive structure concerned with the exclusion of extreme violence and intolerable guilt. The significance of the father is discussed. Difficulties that arise in the analysis of such patients are considered.
This presentation focuses on the superego pathology frequently present in patients with borderline personality organization, an important issue in transference developments that evolve as a consequence and expression of this pathology. I shall describe 'psychopathic transferences' to refer to periods in the treatment when conditions of deceptiveness prevail in the transference, and the importance of systematically interpreting and working through these particular transferences. As a result of such a working through, paranoid transferences usually become dominant, and, in turn, need to be worked through fully. At this point, more advanced transferences characterized by depressive features tend to prevail, signalling the structural transformation of borderline into neurotic personality organization. Clinical case material will illustrate these transformations in the transference.
This paper attempts to link the symptomatology in hysteria with the hysterical personality. The view put forward is that in hysteria the patient is governed by fears of catastrophe coupled with complete denial of problems: this can result in catastrophic symptoms together with belle indifference or a personality split between total catastrophe and the belief there are no problems. The author shows the operation of these forces on the transference/countertransference on how the 'hysteric' is governed by an external object using the same devices. The focus of the paper deals with how the hysteric uses this constellation to avoid more serious breakdown (psychosis) and how it becomes a way of life.
At first glance a liar is an inauspicious patient for a psychoanalysis, a treatment based on truthfulness. Because it presents in speech, lying may seem a mature difficulty, but analysis reveals that it is primitive, linked to the habitual liar's doubts and anxieties about communication with primary objects which, from several causes, have become for him lying objects. As expected, lying makes for a series of problems which handicap the analytic process. Even so, the paper illustrates clinically the view that if the fundamental level of the lying that emerges in the analysis is addressed by understanding it as the liar's communication that he is a liar in identification with, and acutely anxious about, his lying object--in the transference the analyst--a genuine analytic process can be set in train.
The role of unconscious fantasy in mental life has been recognized as of primary importance in psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice from the very beginning. Expressing the fulfillment of unconscious wishes, such fantasies were recognized by Freud as the common basis of dreams and the symptoms of hysteria (Freud 1900, 1908b). He showed how hysterical attacks proved to be involuntary daydreams breaking in upon ordinary life. He had no doubt that such fantasies could be unconscious as well as conscious. Under favorable circumstances, it was possible to account for otherwise inexplicable disturbances of conscious experience in terms of the intrusion of an unconscious fantasy. The example he gave involved an upsurge of affect. He reported how a patient burst into tears, without apparent cause, while walking on the street. Thinking quickly, she came to realize that she had been involved in an elaborate, sad, and romantic daydream. Except for the psychotherapeutic experience in which she was involved at the time, the awareness of the fantasy and of its connection to her otherwise unaccountable outburst of emotion might have eluded her completely. Observations of this kind have since formed part of the experience of every practicing psychoanalyst.
In this paper the author explores the psychic functions of lying and draws on Glasser's (1979) notions of self-preservative and sadistic violence to identify three selfobject configurations. Each of these is associated with specific anxieties to which the lie offers an apparent solution. The first configuration is sadistic lying. Here the intent is to attack and triumph over the duped other. The lie allows the object to be controlled and humiliated. This gratifies the self by reversing an earlier humiliation. The second and third configurations are both forms of self-preservative lying, where the lie may be best conceived as a 'symptom of hope' (Winnicott, 1985). In the second configuration, the object is felt to be unavailable or inscrutable. The lie may be used to create an attractive self that will elicit the object's love, admiration and concern. In this way, the lie serves to eliminate doubt about the object's intentions towards the self. In the third configuration, the object is felt to be intrusive, and the dyadic relationship is overpowering. Here the lie can represent an attempt to insert a third into the relationship.
The main feature of the treatment of the paedophile is the distance that separates the analyst from the patient. However hard the analyst tries to understand his patient, the paedophile's world appears to him, especially at the beginning of the treatment, incomprehensible, disheartening and distant. This paper describes the analytic therapy of a paedophile patient. The psychopathological organization that dominates his inner world originates from a delusional nucleus in which an object (a child or an adolescent) is idealized and worshipped in place of the parents. This object promises all manner of pleasure and happiness. The positive outcome of this patient leads one to believe that, if analytically treated, some paedophile patients are open to therapeutic transformation.
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