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    Home Categories Psychoanalysis The Claustrum: An Investigation of Claustrophobic Phenomena
    The Apprehension of Beauty: The Role of Aesthetic Conflict in Development, Art and Violence £20.69 – £30.99
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    The Psychoanalytical Process £19.79 – £29.99

    The Claustrum: An Investigation of Claustrophobic Phenomena

    Author: Donald Meltzer

    £19.79 – £29.99

    Using the Kleinian concept of projective identification, with special reference to intrusive identification with internal objects, this work examines claustrophobic phenomena and its relations to the treatment of borderline and adolescent patients.

    Author

    Donald Meltzer

    ISBN

    9781912567270

    Format

    Paperback, e-Book, Print & e-Book

    Page Extent

    208

    Publication Date

    July 2018

    Subject Areas

    Bionian Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalysis, Literary Criticism

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    • Description
    • Contents
    • About the Author
    Description

    Using the Kleinian concept of projective identification, with special reference to intrusive identification with internal objects, this work examines claustrophobic phenomena and their relation to the treatment of borderline and adolescent patients.  Founding his theory as always on clinical discoveries, Meltzer discovered that not only the uterus, but also other spaces of the internal mother figure, are susceptible to becoming a “maternal claustrum”, each giving rise to distinct pathologies that pre-empt the patient establishing a true relationship with either himself or others. The book pairs with The Apprehension of Beauty as a radical post-Kleinian revision of psychoanalytic theory, and concludes with a literary study of Macbeth by Meg Harris Williams illustrating the distinction between the equivocation of the Claustrum and the ambiguity of poetry.

    Contents

    Contents

    Foreword
    Meg Harris Williams

    PART ONE: BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
    Introduction
    1. Melanie Klein’s vision of projective identification
    2. Review of earlier publications

    PART TWO: COMPARTMENTS OF THE CLAUSTRUM
    3. The geographic dimension of the mental apparatus
    4. The compartments of the internal mother
    5. Life in the Claustrum
    6. Technical problems of the Claustrum

    PART THREE: IMPLICATIONS OF THE CLAUSTRUM
    7. Emergence from the Claustrum versus shift of consciousness
    8. The role of the Claustrum in the onset of schizophrenia
    9. Concerning the ubiquity of projective identification
    10. Symptomatology versus characterology – the psychoanalytical process
    11. The Claustrum and adolescence
    12. The Claustrum and the perversions/addictions
    13. The Claustrum and politics

    Addendum – Macbeth’s equivocation, Shakespeare’s ambiguity
    Meg Harris Williams

    References
    Index

    About the Author

    About the Author

    Donald Meltzer (1923–2004) was born in New York and studied medicine at Yale. After practising as a psychiatrist specialising in children and families, he moved to England to have analysis with Melanie Klein in the 1950s, and for some years was a training analyst with the British Society. He worked with both adults and children, and was innovative in the treatment of autistic children; in the treatment of children he worked closely with Esther Bick and Martha Harris whom he later married. He taught child psychiatry and psychoanalytic history at the Tavistock Clinic. He also took a special scholarly interest in art and aesthetics, based on a lifelong love of art. Meltzer taught widely and regularly in many countries, in Europe, Scandinavia, and North and South America, and his books have been published in many languages and continue to be increasingly influential in the teaching of psychoanalysis.
    His first book, The Psychoanalytical Process, was published by Heinemann in 1967 and was received with some suspicion (like all his books) by the psychoanalytic establishment. Subsequent books were published by Clunie Press for the Roland Harris Educational Trust which he set up together with Martha Harris (now the Harris Meltzer Trust). The Psychoanalytical Process was followed by Sexual States of Mind in 1973, Explorations in Autism in 1975; The Kleinian Development in 1978 (his lectures on Freud, Klein and Bion given to students at the Tavistock); Dream Life in 1984; The Apprehension of Beauty in 1988 (with Meg Harris Williams); and The Claustrum in 1992.

    5 reviews for The Claustrum: An Investigation of Claustrophobic Phenomena

    1. Rebeca Grinberg, training analyst and child analyst, Asociación Psicoanalitica de Madrid, IPA – 01/04/2020

      ‘It is impressive how much Meltzer extended and enriched Melanie Klein’s concepts in “The Claustrum”. He considers the claustrum-dweller’s projective identification into an internal object to be not “massive” (a quantitative concept), but rather, “intrusive” (a qualitative concept), hence its malignancy. He also discovered that not only the uterus, but also other spaces of the internal mother figure, are susceptible to becoming a “maternal claustrum”, each giving rise to distinct pathologies.’

    2. Lennart Ramberg, training analyst, Swedish Psychoanalytical Association, IPA and IFPS – 01/04/2020

      ‘In this book Meltzer both develops and brings into direct clinical use the later aesthetic viewpoint of Bion, in a radical post-Kleinian and, I would say, systems-oriented understanding of severe personality disorders, more illuminating than life and death instincts at work. Meltzer shows that however dynamic a person’s life may seem to be, his inner world may be dominated by stagnant, narcissistic, closed systems with no vital interchange. No real commitment to others and no true relation to his inner self will then be permitted, and his inner life will eventually disintegrate if he does not change. In a clear-cut but not simplistic way Meltzer shows how to identify these patterns, and the omnipotence and claustrophobic fears that accompany them.’

    3. Jon Morgan Stokkeland, Stavanger, Norway, and Lars Thorgaard, Aarhus, Denmark; adult psychotherapists and psychiatrists – 01/04/2020

      ‘Perhaps it can be seen as a diptych together with “The Apprehension of Beauty”. For the claustrum dweller in intrusive identification, no freedom is given to the object and so the riches and beauty of the host turn sour…the claustrum in its deepest unconscious mentality is a world of misconceptions, misrepresentations, failed recognition and delusion.’

    4. Tomas Plaenkers, training analyst, Sigmund Freud Institut, Frankfurt – 01/04/2020

      ‘Living unconsciously in head/breast-, genital- or anal compartments has severe psychopathological consequences. Meltzer’s investigations in these narcissistic worlds profoundly enlarge our understanding of schizophrenia, borderline states, perversions, addictions and claustrophobic phenomena.’

    5. Katherine Arnold, child and adult psychotherapist, UK – 01/04/2020

      ‘I find this a wonderful book. Meltzer has a light touch in talking about very serious problems of mental growth, without belittling them. He also gives a picture, with tenderness and his ever-present wry humour, of how we can find something better, more alive for ourselves and for our patients. His work is inspirational for students and experienced practitioners alike.’

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