The Misuse of Persons

Analysing Pathological Dependency

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Psychoanalysis
Cover of the book The Misuse of Persons by Stanley J. Coen, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Stanley J. Coen ISBN: 9781317758051
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: November 26, 2013
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Stanley J. Coen
ISBN: 9781317758051
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: November 26, 2013
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

In this major contribution to contemporary psychoanalysis, Stanley Coen illuminates a heretofore undescribed character structure especially resistant to analytic process.  Pathologically dependent patients, for Coen, are identified not by surface character traits, but by their response to the intrapsychic demands of analysis.  Such patients remain in treatment, sometimes contentedly, sometimes amid rebukes and complaints, but they do not profit from it.  Their inability to use insight, especially in the transference, is matched by a proclivity for sadomasochistic enmeshment.  In analysis, this tendency translates into a continuing dependent attachment to the analyst.

In exploring the genetic roots of pathological dependency, Coen ranges beyond extant trauma theories in describing a pattern of parent-child interaction in which repetitive behavioral enactments substitute for the acceptance and resolution of conflicts, both intrapsychic and interpersonal.  In analysis, pathologically dependent patients use the analyst as they have come to use significant others throughout their lives: as part of a defensive structure characterized by repetitive enactments and a refusal to face what is wrong with them.  This "misuse of others" is infused with destructiveness, hostility, and rage, and the analyst necessarily becomes the object of these powerful emotions.  With such patients, then, the road to therapeutic progress invariably passes through the analysis of mutual transferential and countertransferential hate, the patient's tempting invitations to collusion and avoidance notwithstanding.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this major contribution to contemporary psychoanalysis, Stanley Coen illuminates a heretofore undescribed character structure especially resistant to analytic process.  Pathologically dependent patients, for Coen, are identified not by surface character traits, but by their response to the intrapsychic demands of analysis.  Such patients remain in treatment, sometimes contentedly, sometimes amid rebukes and complaints, but they do not profit from it.  Their inability to use insight, especially in the transference, is matched by a proclivity for sadomasochistic enmeshment.  In analysis, this tendency translates into a continuing dependent attachment to the analyst.

In exploring the genetic roots of pathological dependency, Coen ranges beyond extant trauma theories in describing a pattern of parent-child interaction in which repetitive behavioral enactments substitute for the acceptance and resolution of conflicts, both intrapsychic and interpersonal.  In analysis, pathologically dependent patients use the analyst as they have come to use significant others throughout their lives: as part of a defensive structure characterized by repetitive enactments and a refusal to face what is wrong with them.  This "misuse of others" is infused with destructiveness, hostility, and rage, and the analyst necessarily becomes the object of these powerful emotions.  With such patients, then, the road to therapeutic progress invariably passes through the analysis of mutual transferential and countertransferential hate, the patient's tempting invitations to collusion and avoidance notwithstanding.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Law, Immunization and the Right to Die by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Surrealism, Feminism, Psychoanalysis by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Music, Technology, and Education by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Women, Religion and Culture in Iran by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Cognition in Close Relationships by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Images of Voting/Visions of Democracy by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book The Making of Stonehenge by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Beyond Competition: Economics of Mergers and Monopoly Power by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Personality and Assessment by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Beyond the Therapeutic Relationship by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Household Capital and the Agrarian Problem in Russia by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book The Swedish Presence in Afghanistan by Stanley J. Coen
Cover of the book Designing History in East Asian Textbooks by Stanley J. Coen
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy