According to Freud, the \u201csuperego\u201d is a psychological structure consisting of a system of polarities.<\/p>\n
The term \u201csin\u201d belongs to the client\u2019s system of polarities, not to the psychoanalyst\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Consider psychotherapy for a neurotic Christian.\u00a0 If a psychoanalyst said, \u201cWasn\u2019t that sinful?\u201d, then she would speak in the patient\u2019s system of polarities and, with that participation, tacitly validate the patient\u2019s (often maladaptive) tautologies.\u00a0 Instead, she could say, \u201cWasn\u2019t that self-destructive?\u201d without implicitly validating the patient\u2019s biases.<\/p>\n
In other words, the Psychiatrist should not naively validate the patient\u2019s superego during therapy.\u00a0 The Psychiatrist must distance herself from the patient\u2019s superego.\u00a0 After all, the patient\u2019s superego is already projecting its own drama onto the Psychiatrist.\u00a0 Her job is to escape the box, that is, the transference.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Menninger emphasized that the patient would be worse off if she did not have strong superego formation in the first place, especially one that emphasized personal responsibility.<\/p>\n
Does that imply that the family, church, community and guild are crucial for mental health?<\/p>\n
Or, even more twisted:<\/p>\n
Does that imply that psychoanalysis only works on Christians and Jews because they believe in \u201csin\u201d and \u201cpersonal responsibility\u201d?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to Freud, the \u201csuperego\u201d is a psychological structure consisting of a system of polarities. The term \u201csin\u201d belongs to the client\u2019s system of polarities, not to the psychoanalyst\u2019s. Consider psychotherapy for a neurotic Christian.\u00a0 If a psychoanalyst said, \u201cWasn\u2019t that sinful?\u201d, then she would speak in the patient\u2019s system of polarities and, with that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-science-of-original-sin"],"yoast_head":"\n