Back to Table of Contents
psychoanalytic process carried out with patients who have achieved adequate symbolization processes, from those of patients with more severe disturbances in their psychic development. Both his theoretical developments and technical modifications –including what is expected of the analyst– have permeated Latin American psychoanalysis. V. B. Specific Latin American Developments and Contributions Latin American psychoanalysis is not a monolithic tradition. Even if strongly influenced by some of the international, mainly European, autors, Latin American authors forge their own original conceptualizations of symbolization as outlined below. V. Ba. Emilio Rodrigué (Argentina) Inspired by classical work of Melanie Klein and Ernest Jones, Rodrigué (1966), in his paper “La Naturaleza y Función de los Símbolos ” [ “ The Nature and Function of Symbols”], defines symbolization as: "… an active vital process, being the basic structure for the increasingly complex mental operations of the adult; in case of symbol pathology, all psychic activity suffers" (1966, p.95). In the author’s opinion, we think and feel with symbols; furthermore, our ability to deal with symbols is a basic psychic function. Symbols can be used in different ways and, symbolization ranges from affectively charged signs that become replica of the original object, to the tremendous abstraction underlying mathematical language. Rodrigué asks himself: “how is the content expressed by the symbol?” (p. 95), and proposes a series of steps leading toward symbolization in order to answer the question. He illustrates this understanding with the clinical material of Raúl, a boy who was inhibited to play when he started treatment. In the fourth month of treatment, he began to play with water in the sink, flooding the room. As time went by, he then introduced a lampshade into the game, which he wets and then protects. For Rodrigué, at the beginning of the treatment, Raúl had an internal unassimilated ideal object. In his words, there was no “affective traffic”. By diminishing the persecutory anxiety, the boy was able to externalize the idealized breast and his craving for it (i.e., the boy projected and embodied it into a "fit" external object). The sink was an iconic symbol of the breast. Later in the treatment, he repeated the game, but with different affective tones. Rodrigué emphasizes the care and concern for an object in contrast with the feelings of guilt and sadness resulting from the fear of having damaged it (depressive anxieties). Now, there is an intense bond with a specific object: "from this depressive experience a clear and neat symbol emerges" (p. 100). A symbolic transformation occurs, resulting from the experience with the object: from the sink (equation symbol, replica of the object) to the lampshade (representative symbol).
896
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online