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intrapsychic processes , manifest through unconscious fantasies that are molded by and expressed in a mixture of psychological, biological and social determinants are considered central to Modern Conflict Theory. Although previously Abend (1980, 2005), Brenner (1999, 2002), Rothstein (2005) and Richards (1986) described compromise formations as a (reified) thing, the position of many Modern Conflict Theorists today is that this dimension of mental activity is better understood as the continuous operation of a process that continually seeks better solutions to resolve conflict and its unpleasure. The mind is always synthesizing (Rangell, 2004, 2007) and much of what it strives to manage are unconscious conflicts . Rangell’s (1963a, b; 1969a,b; Lynch and Richards, 2010) sequencing of the intrapsychic ( unconscious decision making ) processes contributes to this process perspective. In Modern Conflict Theory there is no concept of ‘The Unconscious’ as a structure or place where secret memories are hidden and from which they can be elicited by analysis. Instead of being a noun, the word unconscious is used as an adjective or adverb to designate unconscious affect, unconscious fears, unconscious prohibitions, and unconscious ways of defending oneself from un-pleasure and unconscious fantasy, which are hypothesized and investigated to loosen their power to motivate present behavior. Essential to the understanding of Modern Conflict Theory is the idea that unconscious contributions to human functioning have both structuring and processing dimensions. The structuring aspect of unconscious activity is seen through its organizing influences on psychic life. Transference activity, patterns of relating to self and others (including guilt and self- punishment), dissociations, the intersubjective field and internalized object relations are structured in particular ways around unconscious fantasies, unique to the individual. Unconscious processes have a fluid dimension , creatively adapting to present realities with maturation, insight and integration or disintegration into anxiety or depressive affect. The role of fantasy in the development of unconscious activity is understood as a prime organizing force having its origin in a complex interplay of environmental and intrapsychic factors (Arlow 1969a, b; Arlow & Richards, 1991). Unconscious fantasies are organizations that aim to help the person maximize pleasure and minimize unpleasure. For Modern Conflict Theorists, every unconscious fantasy is an expression of how the synthesizing function of mind deals with conflict. The contents of these unconscious fantasies are derived from the ambivalencies and conflicts of childhood and their variants thoroughout the life cycle. Complex elements form in the mind depending on circumstance and need. The elements of conflict remain categorically the same in every instance, that is, a drive derivative, an unpleasant affect, a defense, a moral/ethical expression, or a demand from the external world, while the content of the conflict varies with each individual’s makeup, life-experience and current situation. Conflict theorists see in this understanding the manifestation of structure and process in the compromising activity that characterizes all mental life.
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