作 者：布莱克曼Anal Phase肛欲期 (1.5 to 5 years)
First Genital Phase 性蕾期(2 to 6 years)
Seduction of the Aggressor (Loewenstein,1957)
When a person is scary to you,you seduce that person sexually or ycophantically,to prove you are not afraid.
People who seduce the aggressor are probably also using reaction-formation,nhibition of judgment,counterphobia,and minimization.These defenses can reatehavoc in a person’s choice of mate (e.g.,a woman who believes she will eform a“bad boy” through her love for him).
Mr.JE,a 30-year-old plumber’s assistant,was upset with his currentrelationship with a woman,and depressed.He reported that his wife had left himto help her new lover set up pornographic websites.Mr.JE now was dating awoman who plied her trade as an astrologer and palm reader.
He rationalized that she would not need to engage in these scams if he marriedher and supported her.He had already bought her a new computer and a newrefrigerator.
Among the many dynamics involved in Mr.JE’s problems,I advised his therapistto interpret his seduction of the aggressor mechanism (as well as Mr.JE’sminimization of his new woman friend’s apparently antisocial traits).When thetherapist did so,Mr.JE responded with relief.Mr.JE began to see that hepicked out troublesome women and then tried to overcome his fear of them bybeing “sweet and supportive.”
t would seem self-evident that it’s best for a therapist to avoid unconsciouslymploying seduction of the aggressor,but certain people can stimulate thisdefense by threatening to leave treatment.They can mobilize the therapist’sdefenses through the use of projective identification where they create anxietyover object loss in the therapist.
Dr.C presented a case of an adult analysand,Ms.R,at a psychoanalyticmeeting.Ms.R canceled many appointments.Dr.C described how she found herselflooking out the window to see if Ms.R was walking in,wondering whether Ms.Rwould show up for her appointments.
In response to a conferee’s question,Dr.C reported that she had not confrontedMs.R about the missed sessions but had simply charged her for the appointments.Ms.R had paid without objection.
Based on the past history of the patient,a discussant asked Dr.C if she hadinterpreted Ms.R’s attempts to get Dr.C to experience what Ms.R,herself,hadexperienced as a child: longing and insecurity regarding a mother who took careof her financially but was frequently gone on trips.
Dr.C responded that she had not thought of this;she had felt it best to“contain” Ms.R’s striving for independence.Dr.C did not want the patient toquit because she felt Ms.R needed the treatment.
My impression was that,by being an understanding “container,” Dr.C hadunconsciously seduced the aggressor (Ms.R) to avoid anxiety over Ms.R possiblyquitting treatment.Dr.C’s anxiety was apparently stimulated by Ms.R’shostile,rejecting behavior.
Tip.
When,during consultation or treatment,people try to use you for somethingother than psychotherapy,they are often symbolically attacking you.Be carefulnot to become accommodating (“nice”) to people who make outlandish orunrealistic demands,or who miss many appointments.
Latency Phase 潜伏期(6 to 11 years)
Provocation (,1916;Berliner,1947;C.Brenner,1959,1982a)
You behave to make other people do something to you.If they sleep with you, you’ve induced sexual fantasy.If they hurt you,you’ve incited them to make you suffer,possibly to punish you to relieve your own guilt.
During my general psychiatric training,some residents sometimes disparagingly referred to sexually provocative people as “id-ticklers.” Sexual predators,for example,have discovered various manipulations that may induce certain vulnerable persons to engage in sexual activity with them.
We usually presume that sexually alluring or seductive people are quite aware of what they’re doing and have a definite motive in mind.But sometimes the provocateurs (or -euses) are relatively unaware of how stimulating they are—due to several unconscious defenses,including provoking the sexual interest in the other and,at times,denial of the reality of the effect of their behavior.
In 2002,a male colleague reported an unusual consultation with a striking young woman who complained that all the men she met seemed preoccupied with quickly having sex with her.What was unusual was that the woman,in his office,was wearing a see-through blouse and no bra.At some point,he gently introduced the idea that she seemed unaware that the way she was dressed might be contributing to her problems.She was at first defensive,rationalizing that see-through blouses were “in style.” However,she quickly realized she had been rationalizing,as well as unconsciously provoking sexual interest by others,while not noticing her own exhibitionistic wishes.She grabbed her jacket and for the rest of theconsultation sat covered.
Masochists,who provoke their own suffering,may be attempting to relieve guilt, although their motives for self-punishment can involve other dynamics (Novick &Novick,1996).Masochists can bring suffering on themselves for many reasons,including the following:
•to control the timing of a feared unpleasurable experience (turning passive to active)
•to prove to themselves,through procrastination,that they can repetitivelylive through painful situations where someone must wait for and then get irritated with them
•to keep their own rageful impulses toward a victim out of conscious awareness —identification with the victim (MacGregor,1991)
•to unconsciously repeat,in symbolic form,previous traumata,in an attempt to reify magical thinking and make those traumas turn out differently (“acting out” of transference conflicts)
•to provoke,against themselves,hostility or criticism they actually feeltoward others
•to unconsciously imagine they are disarming a frightening figure (Loewenstein’s [1957] seduction of the aggressor)
•to cling to a narcissistic or sadistic lover,in order to feel in control ofanxiety and depression over loss of that person
•to provoke power struggles in order to avoid conflictual sexual urges (anal libidinal regression)
•to appease authority figures in order to magically obtain their “phallicpower” (identification of the idealized object,involving what Greenacre [1956] called pathological “penis awe”)
•to unconsciously create or disrupt a fusion of identities (i.e.,of self andobject images),associated with weakness in self-boundaries and conflicts over distance (Akhtar,1994)
•to alter drive functioning,so that suffering takes on symbolic sexual significance (Freud,1919)
•to obtain,symbolically,oral or genital gratification from a person whoinflicts pain,associated with the thought that that person must care (defense versus loss of love)
•to relieve guilt over sexual matters so that sexual excitement can be enjoyed
Adolescence and Later—Second Genital Phase及成人期( 13 to 20 years plus)
Assorted其他
