Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Unbridled! Thoughts on times of self-begetting and violence

  • Article
  • Published:
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Aims and scope

Abstract

Mind is multi-levelled displaying an eons-long prehistory, while as Freud well knew civilization is new and frail: in biological evolution Thanatos long antecedes Eros. Complex intraspecies interchanges in higher animals proceeding by analogic communication give a firm place to Freudian Dingvorstellungen. Self-recognition and reflective thought come exceedingly late, in apes, requiring affectionate baby-mother mirroring. Deriving from inquiry on ego-dystonic neuroses, psychoanalysis must in the Age of Media deal with ego-syntonic pathologies sporting a demise of self-observation and self-reflection: borderline, autistic and autistoid disturbances. The ‘epidemy of autism’ offers fertile ground for very early psychoanalytic intervention, here briefly illustrated clinically. But on the other side, adolescent and post-adolescent disturbances cover a range going from autistoid retraction to more and more defiant if not violent protagonistic self-begettings, often propelled by overriding feelings of victimhood: filio-parental violence is the offshoot. Postmodernist ideologies accompany and fuel such trends.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahumada, J. L. (1997). The crisis of culture and the crisis of psychoanalysis. The logics of the mind: A clinical view (pp. 1–13). London: Karnac.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahumada, J. L. (2006). La dynamique mimesis-autisme dans les psychopathologies d’ aujourd-hui [Mimetic-autistic dynamics in today’s psychopathologies]. In A. Green (Ed.), Les voies nouvelles de la thérapeutique psychanalytique: Le dedans et le dehors. [New ways in psychoanalytic therapy: The inside and the outside] (pp. 661–694). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

  • Ahumada, J. L. (2011). Insight: Essays on psychoanalytic knowing. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahumada, J. L. (2015). The waning of screen memories. From the age of neuroses to an autistoid age. In G. S. Reed & H. B. Levine (Eds.), On Freud’s “screen memories” (pp. 104–117). London: Karnac.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahumada, J. L. (2016). Is the nature of psychoanalytic thinking and practice (e.g., in regard to sexuality) determined by extra-analytic, social and cultural developments? Insight under siege: Psychoanalysis in the ‘autistoid age.’ International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 97(3), 839–851.

  • Ahumada, J. L. (2019). Freud’s “the uncanny” and the “Leonardo.” Rethinking instinctual drives. In C. Bronstein & C. Seulin (Eds.), On Freud’s “the uncanny” (pp. 58–75). London: Routledge.

  • Ahumada, J. L., & Carneiro, M. I. N. E. (2006). Tradition and truth in postmodern times: Everyday life, the Academy, and psychoanalysis. American Imago, 63(3), 293–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, A. (2010). Levels of analytic work and levels of pathology. The work of calibration. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 91(4), 859–878.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (1979). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. Toronto: Bantam. 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Béguin, A. (1939). L’Ame romantique et le rêve : Essai, sur le romantisme Fllemand et la poésie française. Nouvelle [3e] édition. [The romantic soul and the dream: essay on German romanticism and on French poetry.] New 3rd edition. Paris : J. Corti. 1988.

  • Berlin, I. (1965). Unbridled romanticism: symbols, Fichte, Schelling & More. This is the fifth of six lectures on Romanticism, delivered by Isaiah Berlin at Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art in 1965. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBNcTKhtxLw.

  • Bettelheim, B. (1967). The empty fortress: Infantile autism and the birth of the self. New York, NY: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilinkis, S. (2020). El celular, los chicos y la válvula de escape [Cellphone, children and the escape valve]. La Nación Revista, January 19, p. 26.

  • Breuer J. & Freud S. (1893-1895). Studies on hysteria. New York: Basic Books.

  • Busch de Ahumada, L. C., & Ahumada, J. L. (2017). Contacting the autistic child: Five successful early psychoanalytic interventions. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Call, J. D. (1980). Some prelinguistic aspects of ego development. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 28, 259–289.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, B., & Manning, J. (2018). The rise of victimhood culture: Microaggressions, safe spaces, and the new culture wars. Middletown, DE: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Castoriadis, C. (1996). La montée de l’insignifiance [The rise of insignificance]. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). “CDC: 1 in 10 US kids diagnosed with ADHD.” Retrieved from: https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/news/20150514/cdc-1-in-10-children-diagnosed-with-adhd#1

  • Collingwood, R. G. (1938). The principles of art. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (2nd ed,). London: Penguin. 2004.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of emotions in animals and man Charleston, SC: BiblioBazaar. 2007.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, F., & Lanting, F. (1997). Bonobo: The forgotten ape. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, H. (1926). A contribution to the psychology of sport. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 7, 223–227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, H. (1942). Some forms of emotional disturbance and their relation to schizophrenia. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 11, 301–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Editorial. (2020). Child mental health services in England: A continuing crisis. The Lancet, 395(10222), 389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenichel, O. (1939). The counter-phobic attitude. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 20, 263–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenichel, O. (1945). The psychoanalytic theory of neuroses London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1977). Revolutionary action: “Until now”. In D. F. Bouchard (Ed.), Language, counter-memory, practice: Selected essays and interviews (pp. 218–233). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fouts, R. S., & Fouts, D. H. (1993). Chimpanzee’s use of sign language. In P. Cavalieri & P. Singer (Eds.), The great ape project (pp. 28–41). New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality Standard Edition, Vol. 7, (pp. 125–243). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1911). Formulations on the two principles of psychic functioning. Standard Edition, Vol. 12, (pp. 213–226). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1914a). Remembering, repeating, and working-through. Standard Edition, Vol. 12, (pp. 145–156). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1914b). On narcissism, Standard Edition, Vol. 14, (pp. 67–103). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1916). Some character types met with in psychoanalytic work Standard Edition, Vol. 14, (pp. 310–333). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1917). A difficulty in the path of psychoanalysis Standard Edition, Vol. 17,(pp. 135–144). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. Standard Edition, Vol. 18, (pp. 7–64). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1921). Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. Standard Edition, Vol. 18, (pp. 65–143). London: Hogarth.

  • Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents. Standard Edition, Vol. 29, (pp. 59–145). London: Hogarth.

  • Freud, S. (1933). New introductory lectures psychoanalysis. Standard Edition, Vol. 22, (pp. 3–182). London: Hogarth.

  • Gaddini, E. (1984). Changes in psychoanalytic patients up to the present day. In A psychoanalytic theory of infantile experience (pp. 186–203). London: Routledge. 1992.

  • Gallup, G. (1970). Chimpanzee: Self-recognition. Science, 167, 86–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giovacchini, P. L. (2001). Dangerous transitions and the traumatized adolescent. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 61, 7–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey-Smith, P. (2017). Other minds: The octopus and the evolution of intelligent life. London: William Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, J. (1989). Gombe: Highlights and current research. In P. G. Heltne & L. A. Marquardt (Eds.), Understanding chimpanzees (pp. 2–21). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, A. (1980). Passions and their vicissitudes. On private madness (pp. 214–253). Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, D. R. (1992). Animal minds. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubrich-Simitis, I. (1995). ‘No greater, richer, more mysterious subject […] than the life of the mind’. An early exchange of letters between Freud and Einstein. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 76, 115–122.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harlow, H. F. (1959). Love in infant monkeys. Scientific American, 200, 68–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hölderlin, F. (cca. 1797–1804). Friedrich Hölderlin: Selected Poems. Trans. David Constantine. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1990; 2ed 1996.

  • Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. The Nervous Child, 2, 217–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kano, T. (1986). The last ape. Pygmy chimpanzee behavior and ecology. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klossowski, P. (1969). Nietzsche and the vicious circle. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, R. (1953). The borderline states. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 17(1), 1–12.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Köhler, W. (1917). The mentality of apes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larmore, C. (2000). Hölderlin and Novalis. Edited by Karl Ameriks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahler, M. (1952). On child psychosis and schizophrenia. Autistic and symbiotic infantile psychoses. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 7(1), 286–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahler, M. (1968). On human symbiosis and the vicissitudes of individuation. Vol I, Infantile psychoses. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer, D., Hoxter, S., Weddell, D., & Wittenberg, I. (1975). Explorations in autism. Strath Tay: Clunie Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nietzsche, F. (1901). In W. Kaufmann (Ed.), The will to power. New York, NY: Vintage. 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novalis (1797–1800). Hymns to the night. Trans. Mabel Catterell. Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press. 2020.

  • Postman, N. (1982). The disappearance of childhood. New York, NY: Vintage. 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sackett, G. R. (1968). The persistence of abnormal behavior in monkeys following isolation rearing. In R. Porter (Ed.), The role of learning in psychotherapy (pp. 3–25). London: Churchill. Also in: International Psychiatry Clinics, 6(1), 3–37. 1969.

  • Savage-Rumbaugh, S., & Lewin, R. (1994). Kanzi. The ape at the brink of the human mind. New York, NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitz, R. (1945). Hospitalism. An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 53–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spitz, R. (1964). The derailment of dialogue. Stimulus overload action cycles, and the completion gradient. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 12(4), 752–775.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strenger, C. (2002). The quest for voice in contemporary psychoanalysis. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tönnies, F. (1887). Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. [Community and Society]. Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toth, K., & King, B. H. (2008). Asperger’s syndrome: Diagnosis and treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(8), 953–958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turkle, S. H. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York, NY: Touchstone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tustin, F. (1988). The ‘black hole’: A significant element in autism. Free Associations, 1(11), 35–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tustin, F. (1990). The protective shell in children and adults. London: Karnac.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tustin, F. (1994). Autistic children who are assessed as not brain-damaged. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 20(1), 103–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1956). Primary maternal preoccupation. Collected papers: Through paediatrics to psycho-analysis (pp. 300–305). London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1967). The etiology of infantile schizophrenia in terms of adaptive failure. In R. Shepherd, J. Johns, & H. T. Robinson (Eds.), Thinking about children (pp. 218–223). London: Da Capo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1974). Fear of breakdown. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 1, 103–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisnowiecka-Kowalnik, B., & Nowakowska, B. A. (2019). Genetics and epigenetics of autistic spectrum disorders—current evidence in the field. Journal of Applied Genetics, 60(1), 37–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wrangham, R. (1997). Subtle, secret female chimpanzees. Science, 277(5327), 774–775.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wrangham, R., & Peterson, D. (1996). Demonic males: Apes and the origins of human violence. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Prof. Dr. Roberto Doria Medina for his kind suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Av. Gral. Las Heras, 3898 3º H, 1425ATP, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Jorge L. Ahumada

Authors
  1. Jorge L. Ahumada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge L. Ahumada.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Jorge L. Ahumada, M.D., Distinguished Fellow, British Psychoanalytical Society, Supervising and Training Analyst, Argentine Psychoanalytic Association. Author and psychoanalyst in private practice, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Address correspondence to: Jorge L. Ahumada, M.D., Av. Gral. Las Heras 3898 3º H, 1425ATP Buenos Aires, Argentina. Email: ahumada.jorge@gmail.com

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ahumada, J.L. Unbridled! Thoughts on times of self-begetting and violence. Am J Psychoanal 81, 301–325 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-021-09298-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-021-09298-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation