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Narcoleptic States in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Author(s) -
Richards Joscelyn
Publication year - 1995
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/j.1752-0118.1995.tb00764.x
Subject(s) - psychology , narcolepsy , psychoanalytic theory , psychotherapist , personality psychology , session (web analytics) , meaning (existential) , psychoanalysis , psychiatry , personality , modafinil , world wide web , computer science
In this paper narcoleptic states refer to states of drowsiness or sleep that occur both within the patient and the psychotherapist during a psychoanalytic psychotherapy session. The meaning is explored of recurring narcolepsy in a female patient for a period of four and a half years during her psychotherapy. The concept of internal cohabitation, which is a development of Bion's concepts of psychotic and non‐psychotic personalities, is used to understand the narcoleptic phenomena in both patient and therapist and to explain the changes that took place in the patient.