ShrinkWrapped

Undercurrents

Part of what the Psychoanalyst does while listening with freely floating attention to the free associations of his patients is to allow the ripples arising form the depths to nibble at his attention until the vague hints and inchoate clues coalesce into a form that can be put into words.  From the undercurrents that animate our patient's words we begin to sense rather than actually see the patterns and structures that inform our patients conscious experience.  When such work is disrupted there is often a powerful reason.  A brief vignette from early in my career might be helpful:

A very brilliant middle aged woman, stuck in an unsatisfying job and an unsatisfying marriage entered Psychoanalysis for help in understanding her pervasive feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness.  On the surface she had all the gifts one might wish for; she was bright, attractive, wealthy enough that work was an option rather than a financial requirement, with interesting friends and a devoted husband.  Her history was most significant for what we didn't know rather than any particular trauma.  She had grown up in a middle class suburb of Philadelphia, went to an Ivy league school, had a brief failed marriage at a too young age, and had been married for 15 years to a man who cared deeply for her, was an intellectual equal, and appeared to be everything she wanted in a partner.

Early on it became clear that there was something amiss in her treatment.  She appeared to adapt to the process easily and naturally.  She was able to freely associate in ways that only very few patients seem to ever approximate, yet after several months during which I learned innumerable details about her life, her childhood, and her relationships, I realized that I actually knew very little about how my patient actually experienced the world she was so exhaustively describing.  I was quite puzzled by the apparent disconnect between her behavior on the couch and my growing conviction that I was missing the most crucial elements; worse, I had no idea what I might be missing.  I cautiously brought this conundrum to her attention.  I mentioned that though I thought I now knew a lot about the details of her life, I didn't feel that I knew much about how she experienced her life.  What did she feel when these events took place?  What did she think about the event she described?  It took quite a long time to discover what was going on.

The Ascent of Thanatos

During the dark days in the 1930s and 40s when European civilization seemed intent upon committing murder-suicide, Sigmund Freud developed the concept of the death drive, Thanatos, the alter-ego of Libido, in an effort to explain the spasm of death and destruction unleashed in the heart of Western Civilization.  He remained uncomfortable with the concept for the rest of his life, yet there continue to be events and times which defy conventional understanding and cry out for an explanatory mechanism.  Freud believed that Thanatos arose from within our very cells; that we were programmed to age and die, and this programming sired the equivalent of a drive toward death. 

Modern biology, especially the study of human cellular metabolism and aging, is increasingly revealing that there is no such structure as programmed senescence.  Aging occurs due to failures of the repair mechanisms in cells and the slow accumulation of errors in metabolism.  Thanatos does not inhere in our cells. 

[The exception is the apoptosis pathway for cell suicide, which is activated in the face of dangerous metabolic/genetic errors in the cell, but that is a different and very complicated story.]

Yet the need to destroy ourselves often seems to be nearly as powerful as the need to build.  This can be noted from the most individual to the grandest international stage. 

When our behavior leads to paradoxical outcomes, the question of the self-destructive core becomes significant.  When the outcome of an action is the opposite of the conscious intent, the law of unintended consequences can be invoked and may be adequately explanatory, but oftentimes the disparity is so overt and, in hindsight, so predictable that a more Psychological explanation is warranted.  Examples abound:

• Yesterday Bill Clinton, with the overt aim of assisting his wife and his return to the White House made a comment that was manifestly untrue.  While Clinton has a well deserved reputation for parsing the truth in ways that obscure, one wonders about this kind of unforced error during a Presidential campaign:

Sophisticated Psychiatric Diagnoses

Although I have done my fair share of teaching and supervision of younger colleagues, I am not an Academic Psychiatrist, which may be why I have trouble understanding some of the recent developments in my field.  For example, the current issue of Clinical Psychiatry News features an article on changing the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.  The title of the article appears to be an oxymoron, but maybe my perception is simply a reflection of my lack of sophistication:

Latest Evidence on PTSD May Bring Changes in DSM-V: Subthreshold events can lead to disorder.

The definition of posttraumatic stress disorder should change with the next revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Dr. Michael First said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Such a change is supported by recent evidence suggesting that people can develop PTSD even in the absence of a high-magnitude traumatic event.

Since most clinical Psychiatrists use medication to target symptoms rather than etiology, the discussion of what symptom complex constitutes PTSD would all be rather arcane if not for its legal and social import. 

First, a definition; according to dictionary.com, trauma is:

a. an experience that produces psychological injury or pain.
b. the psychological injury so caused

This definition is not only the colloquial definition but forms the conceptual basis for the definition of trauma implicit in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual); the manual that defines and delineates Psychiatric diagnoses.  According to the DSM-IV:

Fatima Bhutto and the Future of Pakistan

As noted, last night the Sanity Squad spent an hour with Fatima Bhutto discussing the current situation in Pakistan and speculating about the future.  Siggy discusses the Podcast at some length today and wonders (hopes) whether Fatima Bhutto can be the hero that Pakistan needs in order to develop:

A Hero In The Making?

... In virtually all dysfunctional regimes, actually fixing problems and educating populations is feared- because an educated and enabled society is dangerous to dysfunctional and corrupt regimes. It is only when real problem are addressed and the focus on solutions as a priority that real progress is achieved. Those are the real measures of a successful regimes and leaders.

The differences between India and Pakistan are stark. Whereas India has begun to focus on actual solutions to problems and real empowerment to her citizens, Pakistan is embroiled on focusing on who is responsible for the problem.

Heroes are not those who find problems and lay blame. Heroes fix problems, regardless of who is to blame.

If she 'keeps her eye on the ball,' Fatima Bhutto may very well turn out to be the first hero Pakistan has seen in a long time.

There is an interesting convergence between Siggy's wish that Fatima Bhutto be the hero Pakistan so desperately needs and Tom Barnett's vision of the bottom up development necessary for the gap to grow into the core.  In the third world, it is likely that both top down and bottom up development are prerequisites for the successful transition of third world into the modern world.

The Sanity Squad with Fatima Bhutto on Blogtalkradio

Last night the Sanity Squad spent an hour discussing the current situation in Pakistan with Fatima Bhutto, niece of Benizir Bhutto, and member of one of the most prominent families in Pakistan.  If you did not listen to the blogtalkradio broadcast last night, you can listen by clicking on the link or download the Podcast for later delectation.  Te conversation was enlightening and illuminating.

Live, From Karachi…

[Please note: this post is courtesy of Siggy]

The Sanity Squad will be podcasting live on BlogTalkRadio tonight beginning at 9:30 pm. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE…due to time difference between here and Karachi, Pakistan.

In what promises to be a fascinating podcast, The Sanity Squad’s Siggy, Dr Sanity, Neo-neocon and I will interview Fatima Bhutto, niece of Benizir Bhutto who is one of the opposition leaders in Pakistan. We will discuss the state of emergency in Pakistan; upcoming elections and the prognosis for that country and its relations with the U.S. and the West.

Ms Bhutto recently penned an important editorial for the LA Times.

Her Website can be found here; and More from wiki, with links and From MSNBC .

She will undoubtedly be a player in Pakistan in coming years, regardless of the fortunes of her famous aunt.

You will be able to call in live starting at 9:30 pm (until then, if you click on the link it will play the podcast recorded last Monday) .

The call-in number for the live program is (646) 716-9116

Peace Will Come

There is very little left to say in contemplation of the Annapolis Peace meeting starting tomorrow that has not already been said, but a few comments are in order.  Most observers, and many of the participants, are minimizing expectations in preparation for a series of speeches in which Israel will be roundly lambasted for its "oppressive occupation", the Palestinians will eschew any responsibility for their parlous conditions, and many of the most important issues will be completely ignored.  All that is left is to wonder what could possibly drive Condaleeza Rice and George Bush to press for the meeting and what can possibly emerge from the voluminous words that will flow around and past the protagonists?

The first question begs for a Psychoanalytic response.  After all, George Bush based his entire approach to Islamic terrorism on the premise that the civilized world was, and is, under assault by Nihilists and Islamofascists.  Countries were either with us or against us.  His moral clarity was remarkable, even despite the obvious lacunae in his conception (ie, Saudi Arabia, most explicitly.)  To convene a meeting today, in the complete absence of any improvements on the ground, with an ongoing, though barely reported, low level war against Israel from Hamastan and West Bank Fatahstan, and with the Israeli public thoroughly disgusted with their insipid leadership, defies comprehension.

The New York Times Elisabeth Bumiller attempts to explain Rice’s Turnabout on Mideast Talks in a long article today, but comes up empty, and perhaps is inadvertently most revealing of Rice's utter cluelessness:

Ms. Rice spent much of 2005 working on the Gaza withdrawal that she thought would contribute to stability. Instead, it was seen as so emboldening the radicals that in early 2006 Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections over Mr. Abbas and his governing party, Fatah.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this quintessential American holiday, may all my American readers have a wonderful, joyful day.  Those of us lucky enough to have been born Americans, or smart enough to have become Americans, know how much we have to be thankful for.

I plan to celebrate throughout the weekend, with my entire family having gathered for the four day weekend, so blogging will be on hiatus until Monday.

A Liberal Narcissist's Thanksgiving Primer

It is rare to see liberal narcissism so clearly delineated as in the marvelously misguided and myopic cri du couer from  Robert Jensen,  Journalism Professor at University of Texas at Austin. He starts by setting the stage:

Fowl Play

Ethnic Cleansing. Crimes Against Humanity. Turkey and Stuffing?

After years of being constantly annoyed and often angry about the historical denial built into Thanksgiving Day, I published an essay in November 2005 suggesting we replace the feasting with fasting and create a National Day of Atonement to acknowledge the genocide of indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States.

I expected criticism from right-wing and centrist people, given their common commitment to this country's distorted self-image that supports the triumphalist/supremacist notions about the United States so common in conventional politics, and I got plenty of such critique. But I was surprised by the resistance from liberals -- even some on the left, including a considerable number of my friends.

The most common argument went something like this: OK, it's true that the Thanksgiving Day mythology is rooted in a fraudulent story -- about the European invaders coming in peace to the "New World," eager to cooperate with indigenous people -- which conveniently ignores the reality of European barbarism in the conquest of the continent. But we can reject the culture's self-congratulatory attempts to rewrite history, I have been told, and come together on Thanksgiving to celebrate the love and connections among family and friends.

Jensen then displays his towering moral superiority in one of the most insipid examples of narcissistic self-aggrandizement I have seen in quite some time and offers his conclusion:

IQ, Genetics, and "Grit"

I have written about the explosive topic of the hereditary components of IQ in the past.  It is one of those areas of science where data is slowly accumulating. most of it hidden for fear of its implications.  Although most academics are devout Darwinians, the idea that homo sapiens, alone among all the flora and fauna, have escaped the effects of "survival of the fittest" leading to different outcomes in different environments, is as close to "intelligent design" as the left is willing to approach. 

One example of some recent data which is shedding light on intelligence and its genetic roots was reported this week.  [HT: Dissecting Leftism]

Gene tied to lower cognitive function in kids

Children with a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease already show signs of reduced cognitive function, a study has found. That raises the possibility that scientists could develop therapies to block the gene’s negative effects—and stave off cognitive decline starting much earlier in life than previously thought possible, the re­searchers said.

The investigators, with Oregon Health & Science University, found reduced spatial learning and memory skills in children with one of a family of genes implicated in de­velopment and in nerve cell regeneration and protection. The results were pre­sented Nov. 5 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.

Previous studies had found that a gene known as apoE4—part of the so-called apo­lipoprotein E gene family—increases the risk of cognitive decline due to age and brain injuries. Half of Alzheimer’s patients carry apoE4, said study co-author Jacob Raber. Many non-demented elderly also carry it, he added, but they tend to do worse than others on certain cognitive tests.

However, before we fall into the fallacy of genetic determinism, a few points are worth emphasizing, not least of which is that the genetics are far from clear; at least one apoE4 allele is associated with improved memory in the young: