Unit:
Speciality Psychotherapy: theoretical framework, clinical applications and comparative approachesLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Author:
Mountouris Panagiotis
Supervisors info:
Ιωάννης Ζέρβας, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Μαλογιάννης, ΕΔΙΠ, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Αρετή Σπυροπούλου, ΕΔΙΠ, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Η υποκειμενική αίσθηση του ψυχικού κενού και η σύνδεσή της με τη διχοτόμηση: Μια ψυχαναλυτική προσέγγιση
Translated title:
The subjective sense of psychic emptiness and its connection to splitting: A Psychoanalytic approach
Summary:
This thesis explores the clinical phenomenon of psychic emptiness. Starting from the theory of object relations, as developed by Melanie Klein and further elaborated by Kleinian analysts, it investigates the developmental origins of the subjective sense of psychic emptiness and the impoverishment of the Ego.
Within the framework of the psychoanalytic process and the intersubjective dynamics, the phenomenon of emptiness is encountered both in the transference, where the analysand's speech lacks content, desires, and fantasies, and in the countertransference, where the therapist experiences an analytic inability to contain the material, feelings of boredom, and even doubts about the therapeutic process itself.
By studying early object relations, this work attempts to link and correlate psychic impoverishment with the archaic defense mechanism of splitting. More specifically, it highlights how the emptiness and impoverishment of the Ego are caused by the intense and continuous use of the defense mechanism of splitting as a last resort to protect against the death drive and internal destructiveness.
This thesis is a conceptual study based on the analysis of relevant psychoanalytic literature on object relations and Kleinian thought. It aims to contribute to a better exploration and deeper psychoanalytic understanding of psychic emptiness.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Psychic emptiness, Unconscious fantasy, Splitting, Integration
File:
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Mountouris_Panagiwtis_Msc.pdf
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File access is restricted until 2025-10-03.
