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systematic and hierarchical organization of the concepts of Ego Psychology, differs among different psychoanalytic cultures of Latin America.
III. Daa. Ramón Parres and ‘Classical Ego Psychology’ in Mexico One of the founders of the Mexican psychoanalytic society (Asociación Psicoanalítica Mexicana APM) in 1956, Ramón Parres studied psychiatry and trained in psychoanalysis at Columbia University in New York, and was heavily influenced by Ego Psychology perspective. The Institute of APM in Mexico City, which is named after him, includes a comprehensive Ego Psychology coursework and seminars, as part of its core curriculum, as do all psychoanalytic institutes in Mexico. Unique to Latin America, not only Hartmann, Kris, Lowenstein, Jacobson and Anna Freud, among others, are an important part the institutes’ curriculum, but it is expected that a candidate knows Erikson´s psycho-social developmental stages and Anna Freud`s “The ego and the mechanisms of defense” from their preceding university studies. In his book “El Psicoanálisis como Ciencia” (Parres 1977), Parres presents a unique integration of psychoanalytic ego psychological clinical theory, methodology and technique, including mechanisms of defense, transference, and overriding influence of unconscious processes on the conscious mentation. Following the publication, detailed clinical history including evaluation of ego capacities and ego functioning throughout the analytic process, establishment and maintenance of therapeutic alliance, exploration of resistances and defense mechanisms, have been considered an important part of psychoanalytic armamentarium of everyday clinical practice throughout all of Latin America, albeit often without any credit to Ego Psychology. III. Dab. Ego and Self, Ego Psychology and Self Psychology & Early Efforts at Integrations between Ego Psychology and Object Relations Differences between Ego Psychology and Self Psychology are very clear in Mexico, as maybe not as much in the rest of Latin America. Hans Kohut is quoted if Self Psychology is mentioned. Winnicott´s true and false self, involves the concept of self, but he is thought of as Object Relations theorist, representative of the British ‘Middle’ school, not as a representative of Self Psychology or Ego Psychology. Winnicott and Bion are widespread in Latin America, especially in Argentina, and subsequently also in Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and even later in Mexico. In Latin America, those who anticipated in some sense Self Psychology, like Ferenczi, Balint, Fairbairn, Bion and Winnicott, are thought of as Object Relations theorists. Pertinent to Latin American understanding, Ego Psychology refers more to the functions and dynamics of a psychic apparatus, while the self includes other structures, the super ego and the id.
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