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The Dread of Falling and Dissolving: Further Thoughts
Author(s) -
Schellekes Alina
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/bjp.12459
Subject(s) - psychology , psychoanalytic theory , psychoanalysis , falling (accident) , object (grammar) , object relations theory , philosophy , psychiatry , linguistics
This paper aims to expand our thinking about and understanding of two very primitive anxieties that are prominent in various primitive mental states in general and in disorders found along the autistic spectrum, in particular: the fear of falling and the dread of self‐dissolution. These anxieties are illustrated through two personal dreams of the author, two clinical cases, various art works and Beckett's short story ‘The expelled’ (1946). Theoretical developments in psychoanalytic theories for understanding these anxieties are presented and discussed, with the aim to clarify the matrix of object relations specific to each of these two anxieties.