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People often form polarized beliefs about others. In a clinical setting this is referred to as a dichotomous or ‘split’ representation of others, whereby others are not imbued with possessing mixtures of opposing properties. Here, we formalise these accounts as an oversimplified categorical model of others’ internal, intentional, states. We show how a resulting idealization and devaluation of others can be stabilized by attributing unexpected behaviour to fictive external factors. For example, under idealization, less-than-perfect behaviour is attributed to unfavourable external conditions, thereby maintaining belief in the other’s goodness. This feature of the model accounts for how extreme beliefs are buffered against counter-evidence, while at the same time being prone to precipitous changes of polarity. Equivalent inference applied to the self creates an oscillation between self-aggrandizement and self-deprecation, capturing oscillatory relational and affective dynamics. Notably, such oscillatory dynamics arise out of the Bayesian nature of the model, wherein a subject arrives at the most plausible explanation for their observations, given their current expectations. Thus, the model we present accounts for aspects of splitting that appear ‘defensive’, without the need to postulate a specific defensive intention. By contrast, we associate psychological health with a fine-grained representation of internal states, constrained by an integrated prior, corresponding to notions of ‘character’. Finally, the model predicts that extreme appraisals of self or other are associated with causal attribution errors.

Any outsider who comes in contact with Russia soon realizes that it behaves in a fundamentally different way. Sometimes Russia reminds us of people we know, leading us to speculate that it must somehow have a collective personality, which makes it all the more challenging and alluring. We speak of Russia's mysterious "deep soul" (even "slave soul") gleamed by reading Fyodor Dostoevsky or listening to Aleksandr Skryabin. Fyodor Tyutchev famously remarked that Russia cannot be understood with the mind, only emotionally. Winston Churchill even more famously regretted that Russia "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." A Gorbachev supporter once praised the former Soviet leader as a master psychoanalyst who knew how to change Russia whereas others would have failed.1 A leading Western Sovietologist, Fiona Hill, once mentioned that Russia "resembles a paranoid individual."2 Another one, Peter Rutland, warned that any attempt to dissect Russia's enigmatic personality is bound to raise more questions than answers. "Expect the unexpected," he advised.3The observation that nations behave as individuals is anecdotal yet widespread, not really grounded academically, though both the realist and liberalist schools of international relations to some extent assume it. Development economists and even political scientists speak of whether a country has "matured." Using Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories, Arthur Koestler spoke of the "political neuroses" of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom before, during, and after World War II.4 Russian analysts routinely use these tools to describe Russia, as have some Western specialists.5 Ambassador George F. Kennan in his 1946 "Long Telegram" and 1947 "X" article-probably the most influential early Cold War documents-spoke about "psychological analysis" in his attempt at dissecting the complex interactions of elites, history, and peoples that produced the Kremlin's "neurotic" views and actions.6In this spirit, we propose that Russia's behavior has a striking resemblance to what is known as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), which is one of the ten personality disorders recognized by the psychological and psychiatric academy. Whether this resemblance is purely coincidental or the result of some dynamic we dare not speculate about remains beyond any discipline or theories of which we are aware. But the parallel is so obvious that it would not be surprising if by stating it we accidentally plagiarized someone else. According to the the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), a person can be diagnosed with BPD if they suffer from five of the following nine symptoms:1. Frantic effort to avoid real or imagined abandonment;2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation;3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self;4. Impulsivity in areas that are potentially self-damaging;5. Recurring suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior;6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood, such as episodic dysphoria (mixture of depression, rage, and despair), irritability or anxiety;7. Chronic feelings of emptiness;8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty in controlling anger (including engaging in violence); and9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.7As is apparent even to casual observers, Russia suffers from at least the five needed for diagnosis.The Borderline WorldStop Walking on Eggshells, a groundbreaking book on BPD (written for those who have to live with a borderline patient) by Paul T. Mason and Randi Kreger, can double as a diagnostic manual of Russia's behavior-toward itself and others.8 It would be useful not only to U.S. and EU diplomats, but also to Russian leaders who, as Gorbachev, are forced to double as therapists. …

In the article, I explore the use of spiritual strategies in the treatment of manic depression in religiously oriented psychiatric inpatients. Manic depression, a disorder primarily of mood, is characterized by bouts of mania alternating with depression. Religious themes and mystical experiences pervade the language of manic depressive illness, e.g., sensing one is God, being given a divine mission, receiving divine messages, having ecstatic experiences, and so on. Debate exists concerning the effectiveness of spiritual interventions in manic patients. I suggest that a trained religious leader may be able to work therapeutically with such patients, provided that two goals are kept in mind: emphasizing beliefs that facilitate positive coping and challenging irrational religious beliefs (i.e., beliefs that lead to negative coping). When examined psychoanalytically, patients’ religious symbols and beliefs reveal deeply held beliefs about themselves. In particular, splitting and idealization and devaluation c...

Twelve drop out cases in psychodynamic short term therapies according to the focus of cyclic maladaptive pattern by Strupp and Binder (CMP 1984) are reviewed regarding initial diagnostics, tape-recorded therapy sessions, and supervision records. Predictors of premature termination of therapy such as initially rated patients' therapy motivation, narcissistic personality traits, but also characteristics of interpersonal behavior of both patient and therapist are examined and discussed. Particularly important are the therapeutic alliance and narcissistic patients' difficulties to relate personally to their therapists instead of enacting projective dynamics of idealization and devaluation. Therapists frequently tend to respond to them by subconscious display of hostile countertransference. Four patterns of dynamics of therapy drop outs are described.

This article examines the working and personal relationship between two co-conductors of a group of adolescent women with eating disorders, and how this relationship changes and contributes to the significance of the countertransference process.

This thesis presents an action creation research project whose main axis analyses the relationship to the identity process at work in the pictorial activity. An internal locus of experimentation becomes a painting “space“which is no longer approached from an aesthetic point of view but more from a subjectivist and constructivist one. My approach is built around a main axis: the parallel between the construction of the painting and the construction of an individual become creative autonomous "subject" as E.Kant understands it. This relationship between artistic practice and the process of individuation (as defined by CG Jung) leads to the paradox of an "ethics of the relationship" based on self study that I have developed more thoroughly to provide both a theoretical framework and a teaching method in accompanying painting. Accessible to all, this method accompanies people with mental disability, mental illness or autism but our thesis undertakes a more comprehensive reflection on painting as embodied in a musical body as a vector of identity. A new architecture of painting as made up of "sludge", "deposits" supports this musical reading with metaphors of renewal. A theory of miss is seen here as an educational vector. It comes in the form of games against major obstacles favoring the “motor imagination” induced by shape and color both in the one that is accompanying and the one accompanied. We offer a mutually constructive painting space as a way out of psychological, sometimes social closure and stress, to open up to the world and transform ourselves.; Cette thèse présente un projet de recherche création et recherche action dont l'axe principal questionne le rapport entre le processus identitaire à l’oeuvre dans l’activité picturale. Un lieu interne d'expérimentations devient « espace » de la peinture qui n’est plus abordée d’un point de vue esthétique mais sous un rapport subjectiviste et constructiviste. Ma démarche s’est construite autour d’un axe principal: le parallèle entre la construction de la peinture et la construction d'un individu devenu « sujet » créatif et autonome au sens où l'entend E. Kant. Ce rapport entre la pratique artistique et le processus d'individuation (tel que l'a défini C-G Jung) aboutit au paradoxe d’une « éthique de la relation » fondée sur un travail sur soi que j’ai approfondie pour proposer une théorie et une méthode pédagogique d’accompagnement en peinture. Accessible à tous, cette méthode accompagne des personnes en situation de handicap mental, de maladie psychique ou d’autisme, mais notre thèse engage une réflexion plus globale sur la peinture vécue par le corps « musical » comme vecteur de structure identitaire. Une nouvelle architecture de la peinture faite de « boues », de « dépôts », propose, comme appui à cette lecture musicale, des métaphores de renouvellement. Une théorie du rater se fait ici vecteur pédagogique. Elle se présente sous forme de jeux contre les principaux blocages privilégiant l’« imagination motrice » induite par la couleur et par la forme tant chez l’accompagnant que chez l’accompagné. Nous proposons un espace en peinture mutuellement constructeur permettant de sortir de la fermeture psychique et sociale parfois contrainte, pour s'ouvrir au monde et se transformer.

Many pathological gamblers fit the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, while most show prominent narcissistic features. The building blocks of this kind of personality are described: the primitive defense mechanisms of splitting, projection, idealization and devaluation, omnipotence and denial. The types of deception and self-deception observed in the clinical setting are offered as examples of these mechanisms. For therapy to be successful, it is suggested that four areas require special understanding 1.) the patients' omnipotence 2.) the confusion over boundary issues 3.) their idealization of destructiveness 4.) their lying.