https://nosubject.com/index.php?title=Actual_neurosis/defense_neurosis&feed=atom&action=historyActual neurosis/defense neurosis - Revision history2024-03-29T10:07:39ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.31.0https://nosubject.com/index.php?title=Actual_neurosis/defense_neurosis&diff=45017&oldid=prev127.0.0.1: The LinkTitles extension automatically added links to existing pages (https://github.com/bovender/LinkTitles).2019-05-24T00:57:44Z<p>The LinkTitles extension automatically added links to existing pages (https://github.com/bovender/LinkTitles).</p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">Revision as of 00:57, 24 May 2019</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The distinction between the actual neurosis and the neurosis of defense was made by Freud very early on in the context of his theory of the sexual origins of neurosis. In 1898, in an article entitled "Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses," he clearly described these two categories of neurosis in terms of both aetiology and treatment: "In every case of neurosis there is a sexual aetiology; but in neurasthenia it is an aetiology of a present-day kind, whereas in the psychoneuroses the factors are of an infantile nature" (1898a, p. 268). This contrast between actual and infantile sexuality in the causation of the two kinds of neurosis entailed correspondingly different therapeutic approaches, namely prophylaxis and deconditoning in the case of actual neuroses (pp. 275-76) and psychoanalysis in that of the defense neuroses.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>distinction<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>between the actual <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>neurosis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>and the neurosis of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>defense<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>was made by <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Freud<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>very early on in the context of his <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>theory<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>sexual<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>origins of neurosis. In 1898, in an article entitled "<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Sexuality<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in the Aetiology of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Neuroses<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>," he clearly described these two <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>categories<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of neurosis in <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>terms<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of both aetiology and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>treatment<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>: "In every <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>case<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of neurosis there is a sexual aetiology; but in neurasthenia it is an aetiology of a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>present<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>-day kind, whereas in the psychoneuroses the factors are of an <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>infantile<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>nature<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>" (1898a, p. 268). This contrast between actual and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>infantile sexuality<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in the causation of the two kinds of neurosis entailed correspondingly different therapeutic approaches, namely prophylaxis and deconditoning in the case of actual neuroses (pp. 275-76) and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychoanalysis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in that of the defense neuroses.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Into the class of actual neuroses fell, chiefly, neurasthenia and anxiety neurosis. Later (1914c, p. 83), Freud added hypochondria. In his view the distinction between neurasthenia and anxiety neurosis depended on the specificity of the sexual noxa in each: "Neurasthenia can always be traced back to a condition of the nervous system such as is acquired by excessive masturbation or arises spontaneously from frequent emissions; anxiety neurosis regularly discloses sexual influences which have in common the factor of reservation or of incomplete satisfaction" (1898a, p. 268). The mechanism of actual neurosis was essentially linked to a disjunction between the somatic sexual excitation and object representations in the unconscious. This failure of somatopsychic communication was caused by particular conditions of mental functioning and generally led to symptoms.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Into the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>class<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of actual neuroses fell, chiefly, neurasthenia and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>anxiety<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>neurosis. Later (1914c, p. 83), Freud added <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>hypochondria<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>. In his view the distinction between neurasthenia and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>anxiety neurosis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>depended on the specificity of the sexual noxa in each: "Neurasthenia can always be traced back to a condition of the nervous <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>system<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>such as is acquired by excessive <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>masturbation<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>or arises spontaneously from frequent emissions; anxiety neurosis regularly discloses sexual influences which have in common the factor of reservation or of incomplete <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>satisfaction<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>" (1898a, p. 268). The <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>mechanism<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of actual neurosis was essentially linked to a disjunction between the somatic sexual <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>excitation<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>object<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>representations in the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>unconscious<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>. This failure of somatopsychic <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>communication<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>was caused by <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>particular<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>conditions<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>mental<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>functioning and generally led to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>symptoms<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The defense neuroses subsumed conversion hysteria, anxiety hysteria (phobic neurosis), and obsessional neurosis. In contrast to the actual neuroses, they were caused by psychic conflict. In "The Neuro-Psychoses of Defense" (1894a), Freud described the mechanism of these conditions as a disjunction between ideas and affects. The idea, erotic in character, underwent repression, whereas the affect had a specific fate for each type of neurosis: somatic conversion in hysteria, displacement in obsessional neurosis, and projection in phobic neurosis.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The defense neuroses subsumed conversion <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>hysteria<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, anxiety hysteria (<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>phobic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>neurosis), and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>obsessional<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>neurosis. In contrast to the actual neuroses, they were caused by <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>conflict<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>. In "The Neuro-<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Psychoses<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of Defense" (1894a), Freud described the mechanism of these conditions as a disjunction between <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>ideas<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>and affects. The <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>idea<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>erotic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>character<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, underwent <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>repression<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, whereas the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>affect<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>had a specific fate for each type of neurosis: somatic conversion in hysteria, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>displacement<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>obsessional neurosis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>projection<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in phobic neurosis.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Freud rounded out his psychodynamic conception of the defense neuroses in 1906, in "My Views on the Part Played by Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses," describing neurotic symptoms as compromises between two mental currents: the libidinal current, determined by the subject's sexual "constitution," and the repression carried out by the ego (1906a, p. 277).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Freud rounded out his <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychodynamic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>conception of the defense neuroses in 1906, in "My Views on the Part Played by Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses," describing <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>neurotic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>symptoms as compromises between two mental currents: the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>libidinal<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>current, determined by the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>subject<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>'s sexual "<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>constitution<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>," and the repression carried out by the ego (1906a, p. 277).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The distinction between actual and defense neuroses has taken on fresh significance in present-day psychoanalysis as a result of new thinking on psychosomatic disorders. The fact that it corresponds so closely with the distinction drawn by Pierre Marty in his classification of psychosomatic conditions between well and badly-mentalized neuroses has led to its becoming both a model for the economic assessment of psychosomatic processes and a frame of reference for the analysis of clinical findings.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The distinction between actual and defense neuroses has taken on fresh <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>significance<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in present-day psychoanalysis as a result of new <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>thinking<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>on <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychosomatic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>disorders. The fact that it corresponds so closely with the distinction drawn by Pierre Marty in his classification of psychosomatic conditions between well and badly-mentalized neuroses has led to its becoming both a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>model<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>for the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>economic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>assessment of psychosomatic <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>processes<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>and a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>frame<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of reference for the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>analysis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>clinical<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>findings.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In this perspective, the symptoms of actual neuroses belong to the same instinctual framework as those of hysteria and, more generally, those of the transference neuroses. What differentiates them is the specific process affecting sexuality and the relations between the instincts. This postulate is the foundation of Freud's psychosomatic monism and shifts the duality into the instinctual realm.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In this perspective, the symptoms of actual neuroses belong to the same <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>instinctual<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>framework as those of hysteria and, more generally, those of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>transference<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>neuroses. What differentiates <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>them<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>is the specific <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>process<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>affecting sexuality and the relations between the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>instincts<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>. This postulate is the foundation of Freud's psychosomatic monism and shifts the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>duality<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>into the instinctual realm.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The somatic symptoms of actual neurosis express more or less far-reaching material degradation of organs and functions. From the psychoanalytical standpoint, however, we must treat them, along with Freud, as resulting from the intensification of the organ's erotogenic function and from the distortion of the action of the instinct in its own terms. It is only logical, if psychosomatic phenomena are to be considered from the standpoint of psychoanalysis, that all reference to any conceptual framework other than the instinctual one be excluded from a comprehensive approach to the somatic symptom or to somatic illness.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The somatic symptoms of actual neurosis express more or less far-reaching <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>material<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>degradation of organs and functions. From the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychoanalytical<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>standpoint, however, we must treat them, along with Freud, as resulting from the intensification of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>organ<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>'s <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>erotogenic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>function and from the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>distortion<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>action<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>instinct<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in its own terms. It is only <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>logical<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, if psychosomatic phenomena are to be considered from the standpoint of psychoanalysis, that all reference to any <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>conceptual<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>framework <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>other<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>than the instinctual one be excluded from a comprehensive approach to the somatic <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>symptom<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>or to somatic <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>illness<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Such an approach must be congruent with the internal coherence of the psychoanalytic apparatus, a coherence with three dimensions, clinical, theoretical, and therapeutic. From the psychic point of view, which is to say from the point of view of psychosexuality, the organization of the actual neuroses is characterized by an overall incapacity for working matters out, and this for determinate reasons of both a structural and a developmental kind. This is the reason why patients suffering from such neuroses have been excluded from psychoanalysis intervention, the sole purpose of which for Freud was to uncover the role of the unconscious in mental life—a point about which he was categorical. In his twenty-fourth Introductory Lecture, entitled "The Common Neurotic State," he noted that, "It was more important for me that you should gain an idea of psycho-analysis than that you should obtain some pieces of knowledge about the neuroses; and for that reason the 'actual' neuroses, unproductive so far as psycho-analysis is concerned, could no longer have a place in the foreground" (1916-17a, p. 389). Thus the classification of actual neurosis could not be applied to any mental organization in which psychoanalysis was led to identify psychic conflicts or defense mechanisms such as repression—these being firm indications, in Freud's eyes, of psychoneurosis.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Such an approach must be congruent with the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>internal<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>coherence<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychoanalytic<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>apparatus<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, a coherence with <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>three<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>dimensions, clinical, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>theoretical<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, and therapeutic. From the psychic point of view, which is to say from the point of view of psychosexuality, the organization of the actual neuroses is characterized by an overall incapacity for <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>working<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>matters out, and this for determinate reasons of both a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>structural<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>and a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>developmental<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>kind. This is the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>reason<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>why <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>patients<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] [[</ins>suffering<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>from such neuroses have been excluded from psychoanalysis <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>intervention<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>, the sole <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>purpose<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of which for Freud was to uncover the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>role<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of the unconscious in mental life—a point <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>about<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>which he was categorical. In his twenty-fourth Introductory Lecture, entitled "The Common Neurotic <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>State<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>," he noted that, "It was more important for me that you should gain an idea of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psycho<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>-analysis than that you should obtain some pieces of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>knowledge<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>about the neuroses; and for that reason the 'actual' neuroses, unproductive so far as psycho-analysis is concerned, could no longer have a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>place<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>in the foreground" (1916-17a, p. 389). Thus the classification of actual neurosis could not be applied to any mental organization in which psychoanalysis was led to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>identify<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>psychic conflicts or <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>defense mechanisms<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>such as repression—these <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>being<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>firm indications, in Freud's eyes, of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>psychoneurosis<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In his broad conception of the neuroses, however, Freud included the actual neuroses, clearly defining their place and according them an important role with not inconsiderable theoretical consequences: "A noteworthy relation between the symptoms of the 'actual' neuroses and of the psychoneuroses makes a further important contribution to our knowledge of the formation of symptoms in the latter. For a symptom of an 'actual' neurosis is often the nucleus and first stage of a psychoneurotic symptom" (1916-17a, p. 390). This view of things opens up a whole area of psychosomatic research; it also provides the theoretical context for Freud's notion of somatic compliance.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In his broad conception of the neuroses, however, Freud included the actual neuroses, clearly defining their place and according them an important role with not inconsiderable theoretical consequences: "A noteworthy relation between the symptoms of the 'actual' neuroses and of the psychoneuroses makes a further important contribution to our knowledge of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>formation<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of symptoms in the latter. For a symptom of an 'actual' neurosis is often the nucleus and first <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>stage<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of a psychoneurotic symptom" (1916-17a, p. 390). This view of things opens up a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>whole<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>area of psychosomatic research; it also provides the theoretical context for Freud's <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>notion<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>of somatic compliance.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>CLAUDE SMADIA</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>CLAUDE SMADIA</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>See also: Conversion; Disorganization; Excitation; Hypochondria; Psychosomatic; Symptom-formation.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>See also: Conversion; <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Disorganization<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>; Excitation; Hypochondria; Psychosomatic; <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Symptom-formation<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Bibliography</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Bibliography<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>     * Freud, Sigmund. (1894a). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 41-61.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>     * Freud, Sigmund. (1894a). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 41-61.</div></td></tr>
</table>127.0.0.1https://nosubject.com/index.php?title=Actual_neurosis/defense_neurosis&diff=9541&oldid=prevRiot Hero at 06:01, 4 July 20062006-07-04T06:01:55Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>The distinction between the actual neurosis and the neurosis of defense was made by Freud very early on in the context of his theory of the sexual origins of neurosis. In 1898, in an article entitled "Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses," he clearly described these two categories of neurosis in terms of both aetiology and treatment: "In every case of neurosis there is a sexual aetiology; but in neurasthenia it is an aetiology of a present-day kind, whereas in the psychoneuroses the factors are of an infantile nature" (1898a, p. 268). This contrast between actual and infantile sexuality in the causation of the two kinds of neurosis entailed correspondingly different therapeutic approaches, namely prophylaxis and deconditoning in the case of actual neuroses (pp. 275-76) and psychoanalysis in that of the defense neuroses.<br />
<br />
Into the class of actual neuroses fell, chiefly, neurasthenia and anxiety neurosis. Later (1914c, p. 83), Freud added hypochondria. In his view the distinction between neurasthenia and anxiety neurosis depended on the specificity of the sexual noxa in each: "Neurasthenia can always be traced back to a condition of the nervous system such as is acquired by excessive masturbation or arises spontaneously from frequent emissions; anxiety neurosis regularly discloses sexual influences which have in common the factor of reservation or of incomplete satisfaction" (1898a, p. 268). The mechanism of actual neurosis was essentially linked to a disjunction between the somatic sexual excitation and object representations in the unconscious. This failure of somatopsychic communication was caused by particular conditions of mental functioning and generally led to symptoms.<br />
<br />
The defense neuroses subsumed conversion hysteria, anxiety hysteria (phobic neurosis), and obsessional neurosis. In contrast to the actual neuroses, they were caused by psychic conflict. In "The Neuro-Psychoses of Defense" (1894a), Freud described the mechanism of these conditions as a disjunction between ideas and affects. The idea, erotic in character, underwent repression, whereas the affect had a specific fate for each type of neurosis: somatic conversion in hysteria, displacement in obsessional neurosis, and projection in phobic neurosis.<br />
<br />
Freud rounded out his psychodynamic conception of the defense neuroses in 1906, in "My Views on the Part Played by Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses," describing neurotic symptoms as compromises between two mental currents: the libidinal current, determined by the subject's sexual "constitution," and the repression carried out by the ego (1906a, p. 277).<br />
<br />
The distinction between actual and defense neuroses has taken on fresh significance in present-day psychoanalysis as a result of new thinking on psychosomatic disorders. The fact that it corresponds so closely with the distinction drawn by Pierre Marty in his classification of psychosomatic conditions between well and badly-mentalized neuroses has led to its becoming both a model for the economic assessment of psychosomatic processes and a frame of reference for the analysis of clinical findings.<br />
<br />
In this perspective, the symptoms of actual neuroses belong to the same instinctual framework as those of hysteria and, more generally, those of the transference neuroses. What differentiates them is the specific process affecting sexuality and the relations between the instincts. This postulate is the foundation of Freud's psychosomatic monism and shifts the duality into the instinctual realm.<br />
<br />
The somatic symptoms of actual neurosis express more or less far-reaching material degradation of organs and functions. From the psychoanalytical standpoint, however, we must treat them, along with Freud, as resulting from the intensification of the organ's erotogenic function and from the distortion of the action of the instinct in its own terms. It is only logical, if psychosomatic phenomena are to be considered from the standpoint of psychoanalysis, that all reference to any conceptual framework other than the instinctual one be excluded from a comprehensive approach to the somatic symptom or to somatic illness.<br />
<br />
Such an approach must be congruent with the internal coherence of the psychoanalytic apparatus, a coherence with three dimensions, clinical, theoretical, and therapeutic. From the psychic point of view, which is to say from the point of view of psychosexuality, the organization of the actual neuroses is characterized by an overall incapacity for working matters out, and this for determinate reasons of both a structural and a developmental kind. This is the reason why patients suffering from such neuroses have been excluded from psychoanalysis intervention, the sole purpose of which for Freud was to uncover the role of the unconscious in mental life—a point about which he was categorical. In his twenty-fourth Introductory Lecture, entitled "The Common Neurotic State," he noted that, "It was more important for me that you should gain an idea of psycho-analysis than that you should obtain some pieces of knowledge about the neuroses; and for that reason the 'actual' neuroses, unproductive so far as psycho-analysis is concerned, could no longer have a place in the foreground" (1916-17a, p. 389). Thus the classification of actual neurosis could not be applied to any mental organization in which psychoanalysis was led to identify psychic conflicts or defense mechanisms such as repression—these being firm indications, in Freud's eyes, of psychoneurosis.<br />
<br />
In his broad conception of the neuroses, however, Freud included the actual neuroses, clearly defining their place and according them an important role with not inconsiderable theoretical consequences: "A noteworthy relation between the symptoms of the 'actual' neuroses and of the psychoneuroses makes a further important contribution to our knowledge of the formation of symptoms in the latter. For a symptom of an 'actual' neurosis is often the nucleus and first stage of a psychoneurotic symptom" (1916-17a, p. 390). This view of things opens up a whole area of psychosomatic research; it also provides the theoretical context for Freud's notion of somatic compliance.<br />
<br />
CLAUDE SMADIA<br />
<br />
See also: Conversion; Disorganization; Excitation; Hypochondria; Psychosomatic; Symptom-formation.<br />
Bibliography<br />
<br />
* Freud, Sigmund. (1894a). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 41-61.<br />
* ——. (1898a). Sexuality in the aetiology of the neuroses. SE, 3: 259-285.<br />
* ——. (1906a). My views on the part played by sexuality in the aetiology of the neuroses. SE, 7: 269-279.<br />
* ——. (1914c). On narcissism: An introduction. SE, 14: 67-102.<br />
* ——. (1916-17a [1915-1917]). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. SE, 15-16.</div>Riot Hero