Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Theories of self-destruction

Theories of self-destruction Conclusion Our aim has been to gather material for a classification of theories of selfdestruction. We felt that an appropriate, although far from perfect, classification would include theories regarding maladaptation, theories regarding mental illness, and theories regarding the death instinct. Of these, adaptational theories are most in line with current psychiatric “dynamic” thinking and thus seem to us to be most appealing. However, we would enter a word of caution that because these theories reflect what is currently fashionable, one might end to favor them at the expense of other theories which have a good deal to offer. The conceptions which relate selfdestructive behavior to mental illness seem to us to be an example of a useful formulation which might be so neglected. Our own feeling is that to relate selfdestructive behavior to mental illness has already proven quite profitable and that further efforts along these lines might be quite valuable. The death instinct, as usual, is the most troublesome of formulations. Most present-day psychiatrists and psychoanalysts dismiss the death instinct, indicating that it has few valuable applications and that, in any case, “it has never been proved.” We, however, would like to point out that while it “has never been proved,” it has also never been disproved and that it has stimulated many worthwhile theoretical and clinical discussions. We also feel that any model which provides an opportunity to understand complex and important phenomena deserves attention. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Springer Journals

Theories of self-destruction

Download PDF
9 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/theories-of-self-destruction-0FRDhQ0sqc
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
1972 The Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
ISSN
0002-9548
eISSN
1573-6741
DOI
10.1007/BF01872484
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Conclusion Our aim has been to gather material for a classification of theories of selfdestruction. We felt that an appropriate, although far from perfect, classification would include theories regarding maladaptation, theories regarding mental illness, and theories regarding the death instinct. Of these, adaptational theories are most in line with current psychiatric “dynamic” thinking and thus seem to us to be most appealing. However, we would enter a word of caution that because these theories reflect what is currently fashionable, one might end to favor them at the expense of other theories which have a good deal to offer. The conceptions which relate selfdestructive behavior to mental illness seem to us to be an example of a useful formulation which might be so neglected. Our own feeling is that to relate selfdestructive behavior to mental illness has already proven quite profitable and that further efforts along these lines might be quite valuable. The death instinct, as usual, is the most troublesome of formulations. Most present-day psychiatrists and psychoanalysts dismiss the death instinct, indicating that it has few valuable applications and that, in any case, “it has never been proved.” We, however, would like to point out that while it “has never been proved,” it has also never been disproved and that it has stimulated many worthwhile theoretical and clinical discussions. We also feel that any model which provides an opportunity to understand complex and important phenomena deserves attention.

Journal

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis – Springer Journals

Published: Mar 1, 1972

Keywords: Clinical Psychology; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis

References

  • Eichmann in Jerusalem
    Hannah Arendt
  • “Suicide Among the Cheyenne Indians
    Dizmang, Larry H.
  • The Wretched of the Earth
    Franz Fanon
  • “Beyond the Pleasure Principle”,
    Sigmund Freud
  • “The Ego and The Id”,
    Sigmund Freud
  • Culture and Aggression
    Karen Horney
  • An Emotional Life History Pattern Associated with Neoplastic Disease
    Lawrence LeShan
  • Immobilization Response to Suicidal Behavior
    Robert E. Litman
  • Psychodynamics in Cancer Detection: A Patient with Advanced Cancer of the Lip
    H. T. Lynch, T. P. Krush, Anne Krush
  • Man Against Himself
    Karl Menninger
  • Narcotic Bondage
    Sandor Rado
  • “Groupicide
    Rosenbaum, Jean B.
  • Comparative Psychiatric Study of Accidental and Suicidal Death
    Norman Tabachnick
  • Failure and Masochism
    Norman Tabachnick
  • Interpersonal Relations in Suicide Attempts
    Norman Tabachnick
  • “Predilection to Death”
    Weisman, Avery D. and Thomas P. Hackett