Psychoanalytic Thinking with Dr Don Carveth

The Blues Grief, Mourning, Despair, Living on

Correction: not a one-way progression from knowing to being but a dialectical integration of knowing and being. Although my technique has always been relational (vs. still face, cold fish, abstinence, neutrality, non-self-revealing), Freudian and Kleinian work on enhancing self-understanding remains essential, as does the conscientious critique of the superego. In liberating conscience one is eman...

First as a Freudian, then a Kleinian, the technique was "enlightening." With Winnicott, Kohut and Bion it shifted from knowing to being.

What is the difference?

In his 1905 essay on psychotherapy Freud elaborates the distinction between painting (pouring on) and sculpture (chipping away). Classical defense and resistance analysis seeks to emancipate the true self.

While Freud, Klein and Kohut speak of internalizing good objects, Winnicott speaks of the "going-on-being" of the true self that should not be impinged upon or abandoned.

Guilt evasion. Types of guilt. Conscious/unconscious, Persecutory/reparative, Justified/unjustified, Survivor or success guilt, Collective guilt, etc.

Just as Klein and Grinberg distinguished two kinds of guilt, J. Rejd Meloy distinguished two kinds of pstychopathy,, primary and secondary; amd Sidney J. Blatt distinguished introjective and anaclitic depression; so we need to distinguish persecutory and reparative shame.

Dr Carveth begins by describing the difference between the narcissistically based superego from the object-oriented conscience. He sees the former as culturally derived and the latter as biologically given. We discuss how in the clinical situation persecutory guilt, i.e., superego, may often be emphasized to defend against the vulnerabilities associated with loving and being loved. We consider the...

Dr. Carveth discusses the differences between guilt that reflects concern for the other and alternatively self-abuse that serves narcissistic purposes. The former relates to Klein's depressive/reparative stage, labeled 'conscience' by Carveth, and the latter derives from the paranoid/schizoid position, labeled 'superego'. We review varying technical approaches to each of these clinical presentatio...

Freud, Lacan, Mead and Christianity on narcissism.

Carveth/Lusensky: Is Psychoanalysis a Path to Salvation? A Freudian and a Jungian dialogue about psychoanalysis and Christianity

In this episode, Dr Carveth speaks with Jakob Lusensky on the Psychology & The Cross podcast. Don and Jakob discuss Don converted from Jung to Freud, his writing on the importance of differentiating conscience from the superego, and what we can learn from Jesus and the bible about psychoanalysis. See the full show notes on the Psychology & The Cross website: https://psychologyanthecross.transistor...

In this episode, Dr Carveth discusses splitting.  Don goes on to discuss a problem in Kleinian theory of development, and how Klein attributes the capacity to split of infants under six months of age. That said, splitting is a complex cognitive capacity to abstract and generalize that can only arise with symbolization, sometime in the second year of life. This is not a problem for the Kleinian the...

In this episode, Dr Carveth is interviewed by Aodhán Moran regarding his latest book Guilt: A Contemporary Introduction . Purchase the book: https://www.routledge.com/Guilt-A-Contemporary-Introduction/Carveth/p/book/9781032382661 Dr Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán for podcast production at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com . Follow Aodhán here: https://twitter.com/aodh...

In this episode, Dr Carveth questions whether or not the psychoanalytic theory of acculturation is anything more than a projected castration phantasy. Was the turn away from guilt and the superego in psychoanalysis part of the neo-liberal attack on regulation? Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán for podcast production at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.

In this episode, Dr Carveth wrestles with the question: is Tragic Man Guilty? He then goes on to discuss the superego as aggression turned on self or deployed against scapegoats, and how authoritarians are marching under the banner of the superego. Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán for podcast production at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.  

In this episode, Dr Carveth teases apart Marxism and Leninism. For Don, they are not the same thing. He then goes on to discuss democratic Marxism, social democracy, and anti-authoritarianism. Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán for podcast production at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.

In this episode, Dr Carveth discusses the "Woke" authoritarianism and the new Puritanism. A PDF of the talk is here: https://www.doncarveth.com/_files/ugd/8ad211_dd32806eb3bc4e2ea8866bfd08e0cee9.pdf Presented to the British Psychoanalytic Society on May 30, 2023. Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán for podcast production at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.  

In this episode, Dr Carveth discusses self-esteem regulation, Freud's ego-ideal, and conscience. Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.

In this episode, Dr Carveth discusses mourning from a Freudian & Kleinian perspective.  Dr Don Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. Contact Aodhán at aodhanpmoran@gmail.com.

In this episode, Dr Carveth discusses reality testing by diving into p hilosophical realism vs. radical constructivism, the three worlds hypothesis. interpersonal reality-testing, transcending narcissism in science and in personal life, illusions, & delusions. Dr Carveth works with Aodhán Moran to produce this podcast. If you'd like to inquire about Aodhán's services, contact him here .