neil maizels
Member Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association of Australasia.
Member Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists.
Member Australian Psychological Society.
Member Australian Composers Society.
Member Australian Performing Rights Association.
Member Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists.
Member Australian Psychological Society.
Member Australian Composers Society.
Member Australian Performing Rights Association.
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Papers by neil maizels
Particular emphasis placed on the unconscious aspects of the narrative and its many characters and "claustral" spaces.
Any suggestions, comments or ideas are welcomed - but particularly from a psychoanalytic or child/adolescent therapy or educator's point of view.
thanks to all, NM
By exploring the nature of their psychological fears of exploring and experimenting, which have often been severely curtailed or inhibited, it is possible to evolve an idiosyncratic technique of working effectively with such patients.
It is neither easy or impossible work - but the deficits of exploratory playfulness and adventurous "experimental" thinking can be somewhat overcome.
The implications for the origins of this experimental state of mind (child's play) in healthy psychological development are traced, particularly in relation to the earliest relationship to the Father.
The tracing followed here is from Pericles to Lear to Leontes to Prospero - although Measure for Measure rotates all these paternal roles in the eye of the reader.
Clinical implications are sketched- particularly where the daughter-father affectionate intimacy has been ruptured, or inhibited, through such unconscious conflict in the Father, just at a time when the daughter most needs his close attention.
It is the function of art, and of love, to make this music heard . . .
It is not the music of depression - it is the way through.
amongst other things ..
Are capitalism, Oedipal ruthlessness and the evasion of guilt, entrepreneurship & mass exploitation inextricably linked ?
And therefore, does the average greedy consumer need rogue entrepreneurship to scapegoat exploitation-guilt ?
Would Capitalism "work" without the pluck, ruthlessness and opportunism of greedy, oedipally-damaged Entrepreneurship ?
It outlines the various "knife-edge" defenses the infant mind must struggle with in the face of the emotional impact of the mother's beauty, particularly when there is no absolute guarantee of this being reciprocated.
An attempt is made to disambiguate this vulnerability from those which call into play defenses against (Kleinian) unconscious envy.
Both serve to protect the internal good/beautiful mother from destruction, in the infant mind.
One aspect of Narcissism, not usually emphasized, is the lack of conscious awareness of one's rejection of love and beauty when offered by another.
Instead, the narcissist remains almost totally merely conscious of his or her own feelings of being rejected, especially aesthetically.
A detailed exploration of the various unconscious meanings of different types of swearing modes is undertaken, and swearing is revealed as a complex and important form of emotional communication, notwithstanding its basis in the "primitive" origins of infantile anxiety.
The paper - originally a conference presentation with audio and video excerpts - is currently being updated (from its pre HBO-Netflix original form) because times have changed significantly in the past decade re Swearing no longer being quite the taboo that it once was.
During "renovations" this draft for the conference presentation is being made available, temporarily, and comments are welcomed - although the audio-visual elements are absent, and some paragraphs are still in shorthand form.
This paper explores the different psychological climates that prompt dis-identification, sometimes in the service of growth, or sometimes as a denial of dependence and an enactment of unconscious envy. It is argued that a disidentification prompted by a move to internalize the combined parental couple will require that identifications with ...
Instead, a sleepy, "parasitic" state of mind flourishes - with its insistence on a return to the womb and utter dependence on a placental type of relationship with others.
This may or may not be associated with various addictions which facilitate and maintain this sense of "foetal entitlement", many of which are facilitated by the internet and new media.
Some examples are given from the clinic and from literature, including the work of Marcel Proust.
The Fifth Element
and
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer.
Finally, Donald Meltzer's idea of the "delusion of clarity of insight" is explored and extended in application to all of the above.
Neil Maizels. 2020
Hardy's term: "watchful lovingkindness" - although hardly a technical phrase - is equated with a state of mind primed to take in new knowledge of others, at the deepest level. Therefore, Wilfred Bion's separation of Curiosity (K) from Love (L) is disputed.
William Blake discovered that the two must go hand in hand if we are to be truly receptive to new knowledge of the "other".
being a rare and curious phenomenon, is the central and inevitable fact of human
existence.”
Thomas Wolfe
A psychoanalytic look at aspects of Loneliness, with an emphasis on internal factors, further to those described by Melanie Klein, is presented. In particular, importance is given to Paternal Reverie as compared with Bion's concept of Maternal Reverie. Examples from literature and the TV series The West Wing are given, along with a brief clinical example.
The often conflicted fantasies and expectations – both conscious and unconscious – that women have of men are explored. In particular, the need to feel secure in a routine, material predictability can conflict with the need for adventure and a stimulating newness, or even chaotic danger.
Case examples are explored, along with Ravel's enchanting musical comedy "L'heure Espagnole".
Often the conflict is represented by a woman being unable to choose (romantically) between a reliable (but somewhat boring) man and one who is exciting and adventurous, but quite volatile and unpredictable.
The theme is taken up in a more serious key in Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”, and in the films “Nocturnal Animals”, & “Love the Hard Way”.
It is concluded that, eventually, she will have to examine and face and help out with that very same conflict in her man, if she is to be consoled by love and the world of the possible, and not perpetually dragged by her heart from one type of man to the other.
(For the sake of simplicity, the paper does focus predominantly on the complexities of female heterosexual romantic fulfillment.)
From some clinical dream material and a short story by Sylvia Plath, entitled The Wishing Box, this paper outlines an unconscious process that may attack and "devour" the perception of emotional meaning. This has a drastic, but disguised effect on creativity and the capacity for love - replacing meaningful symbols with a flashy, but precocious, contrived and emotionally-sterile sheen of anti-symbols - a kind of mental cancer.
Both patient and therapist may become fascinated, or stupefied, by this 'impressive' imitation of genuine alpha process, unless the therapist recovers a thirst for sincere emotional contact and nourishment. Then, the difference can be conveyed, with words that feel alive and hand-made to revive that thirst in the patient.