Some Implications for the “Dissociative Turn”
Historically, dissociation is a
topic that Sigmund Freud did not welcome in his psychoanalytic theories against
the background of his conflict with Joseph Breuer, Pierre Janet and Sándor Ferenczi. However, the topic of dissociation has been discussed in a growing
number in the psychoanalytic literature. A psychoanalytic research engine (Pepweb)
indicates that its number doubles in each decade for the past 40 years (405
between1980~1989, 935 between 1990~1999, 1629 between 2000~2009, and 2461
between 2010~2019). This movement can trigger some major
reorganization in the psychoanalytic literature, that Itzkowitz (2015) referred to as the “dissociative turn.” So, what is
it about his “turn”? In his short paper with the same title, Itzkowitz mentions
as follows.
The actuality of trauma during infancy and early
childhood is recognized as a key factor leading to the emergence of
dissociative process, the potential dissociative structuring of the mind and
the mind being characterized by multiple, discontinuous, centers of conscious.
Therapeutic goal in the psychoanalytic work with fragmented patients is to
establish communication and understanding between the dissociated self-states (p.145)
.
Itzkowitz, S (2015) The Dissociative turn in psychoanalysis. The
American Journal of Psychoanalysis.75:145–153.
However,
in his rather short paper Itzkowitz,
S (2015) did not elaborate on these specific issues and describe the way each
of them invites us to make the “turn” and in what sense. In this article, I attempt
to elaborate on what Itzkowitz might mean from my own standpoint.
1． Mind being
characterized by multiple, discontinuous, centers of consciousness.
2． The
actuality of trauma during infancy and early childhood.
3． Therapeutic
goal is to establish communication and understanding between the dissociated
self-states.
