Sunday, May 24, 2015

foreclosure and projective identification in subject egoism

I've mentioned in previous posts about how altruistic projective identification can mean that one assumes the maternal imago of Death and, when the paternal imago modifies it, the anxiety induced in the object (who represents the self) is closer to the 'loss of love', or inadequacy anxiety.

In my work with substance abuse there are very many borderline patients who disappear, get close to overdose and Death, or who throw away their reputations that enact PI interactions with a parent of boyfriend/girlfriend.

I don't think I've previously formalized how the difference feels with subject egoism. The 2 levels here relate relatively easily with the SE grandiosity of the paranoiac who has the unmodified maternal imago, and the modification of the paternal imago is a more subdued irritation with others. In my groups I often have to hear things about how "common sense isn't so common" and other working class cliches that amount to the person rationalizing their state of superiority to others and a relatively constant annoyance with them. This is sometimes observed in the phenomenon of the "dry drunk" in substance abuse.

I've identified Heracles with the proto stage in which Hera is clearly the origins of the paranoid threat. It's interesting to note the physical difference between the borderline type and those who possess the father imago. The former is definitely much more intense, and as Shapiro and Reich noted, their bodies are in a state of tension in which they can quickly react to any observed threat. However, it almost feels like those with the father imago are angrier... This of course could be my own subjective reaction and say more about my libidinal economy... As always, I'll write if future experience modifies this observation.
   

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