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CATASTROPHE, OBJECTS AND REPRESENTATION: THREE LEVELS OF INTERPRETATION
Author(s) -
Hinshelwood R.D.
Publication year - 1997
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.1752-0118.1997.tb00317.x
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , representation (politics) , psychology , unconscious mind , object (grammar) , layering , object relations theory , layer (electronics) , cognitive science , psychoanalysis , epistemology , cognitive psychology , psychoanalytic theory , artificial intelligence , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , chemistry , law , botany , organic chemistry , politics , political science , biology
This paper discusses the under‐used ideas of Esther Bick. In recapitulating briefly her discoveries, I have tried to show that in effect she was attempting to reach a third layer of experiencing in the unconscious; a neonatal struggle for containment which underlies Klein's descriptive level of object‐relations involved in primitive defence mechanisms in the infant, and Freud's further developed layer of repression and symbolization (and representation). With a brief piece of clinical material I indicate how each layer is linked to the others. This layering model helps, conceptually, to define interpretative choices. It remains, however, for further debate to decide how to choose which layer(s) for interpretation.