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Archetypal defenses in the clinical situation: a vignette
Author(s) -
Kalsched Donald E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of analytical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1468-5922
pISSN - 0021-8774
DOI - 10.1111/1465-5922.00003
Subject(s) - dream , psychology , psychoanalysis , vignette , id, ego and super ego , feeling , vulnerability (computing) , psychotherapist , social psychology , computer security , computer science
Critical moments along the path of an analysis are presented in order to illustrate how dreams portray archaic and typical (archetypal) defenses against the re‐experience of unbearable affect as it emerges. Inner defensive ‘objects’ functioning as a ‘self‐care system’ threaten to uproot, kill or destroy the connections between the dream ego and various images of vulnerability as these emerge in response to healing life events or transference feelings. Over a series of dreams, transformations within this self‐care system are observed, ending in a final healing dream which marks the patient's achievement of a ‘depressive position’ in relation to her otherwise persecutory anxieties.