Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis
Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis
Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis
PSYCHOANALYSIS
An Examination of the Relatioiiship between Mode of
Observation and Theory'
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RESISTANCES
AGAINST INTROSPECTION
ENDOPSYCHIC
AND INTERPERSONAL
CONFLICT
We shall next examine the position of the concepts of endo-
psychic and of interpersonal conflict within the framework of
psychoanalytic theory, especially in consideration of the he-
quently expressed conviction that psychoanalysis is not “inter-
personal enough” or that it uses a one-body frame of reference
instead of the social matrix. Such views fail to take into account
that the essential constituent of psychoanalytic observation is
introspection. We must, therefore, define the psychoanalytic mean-
ing of the term interpersonal as connoting an interpersonal ex-
perience open to introspective self-observation; it differs thus from
the meaning of the terms interpersonal relationship, interaction,
these two theoretid approaches, achieved, for example, by the use of a bridging
concept such as that of the "participant observer" (20). The fruitful differentiation
between the structural concept of a transference object in the neuroses and the
archaic interpersonal object in the narcissistic disorders disappears from this point
of view. The result is the emergence of a logical and internally consistent concep-
tion of psychopathology in which, however. the most diverse clinical phenomena
may be regarded as varieties or degrees of schizophrenia (20).
DEPENDENCE
Some concepts used by psychoanalysts are not abstractions
founded on introspective observation or empathic introspection
but are derived from data obtained through other methods of
observation. Such concepts must be compared with the theoretical
abstractions based on psychoanalytic observations; they are, how-
ever, not identical with them.
Let us, for example, consider the hypothesis that the importance
of childhood sexuality in general and of the oedipus complex in
particular is related to, or part of, tlie prolonged, biologically
necessitated dependence of the human infant. Is this a psycho-
analytic hypothesis? I n a general sense the answer is, of course,
affirmative because we know that the hypothesis in question could
not even have been formulated prior to the introspective discovery
of phallic, anal, and oral erotic experience and the recovery of
tlie oedipal passions in the transference. More precise considera-
tions, however, will demonstrate that not all of the concepts used
in the hypothesis can, without modifications, be treated as if they
had been derived from introspective and empathic observations.
T h e problem of drives and sexuality will be considered later, the
concept of dependence, however, shall be examined at this point.
T h e term dependence can be used to convey two distinct mean-
ings, which, confusingly, are often but not always related to each
other. T h e first meaning refers either to a relationship between
two organisms (biology) or between two social units (sociology).
T h e biological observer may affirm that various mammalian
neonates are dependent (for survival) on the 'care they receive
from the mothering adults of the species. Similar judgments con-
cerning dependence can also bc made about the relationships
between human adults. I n our complex and highly specialized
civilization every member of society develops only certain skills
and he is, therefore, dependent upon the whole of society (the sum
total of the skills of others) for his existence as he knows it, and
most likely also for his mere biological survival. Apart from the
biological or sociological meaning of the term dependence, how-
ever, we encounter a psychological concept going by the same
SEXUALITY,AGGRESSION,
DRIVES
T h e psychoanalytic concept of sexuality has led to much con-
fusion and argument. T h e sexual quality of a n experience is
neither adequately defined by the content of the experience nor
by the body zone (erotogenic zone). An adolescent's looking at
medical illustrations may be a sexual experience; for the medical
student it is not. Neither can we properly define the psychological
concept of sexuality by a reference to specific biochemical sub-