Ata: Journal of Psychotherapy Aotearoa New Zealand

Editorial

2024-12-12T00:07:54+00:00

In a paper I presented at our Association’s recent Conference I suggested that “psyche is the socio-cultural writ small, and the socio-cultural is psyche writ large”. In offering this perspective, my intention was to gesture to the possibility of a dialectic concerning the ways in which the intrapsychic and unconscious nature of psyche interacts with the wider sociocultural context within which it emerges, and that this dialectic is central to the analytic and psychotherapeutic task. It is with this central dialectic in mind that, with great appreciation for the work done by my predecessors in building our associative community of psychotherapists here in Aotearoa New Zealand, I take up the role of President of our Association for the next two years. In doing so I want to express my tremendous gratitude for the creativity and potency of recent Past-Presidents, including my dear friend, Gabriela Mercado, who undertook the role with such energy, warmth and intelligence; Lynne Holdem, who poured so much of her creative energy into reigniting opportunities for us to think and grapple together with the challenges of psychotherapy in contemporary times; Sean Manning who with love and determination, stepped in at short notice when Gabriela took some time-out for family reasons; and to all those Presidents who have preceded me, from Maurice Bevan-Brown in 1947, onwards. As I stand on the shoulders of those who have come before, I bring my mind to the many challenges which we all face, as psychotherapists, and as citizens of this country and this world, in challenging contemporary times.

What is the unconscious?

2024-12-12T00:07:41+00:00

The unconscious may seem a simple concept. This paper draws on recent literature to argue that, not only is it deceptively complex, but it is also a concept undergoing constant transformation and contestation. The paper demonstrates this by exploring several dimensions that shape current understanding and use. They encompass the early philosophy and history of the unconscious in shaping ideas of the modern Western self, and how, more recently, the concept has been constantly reworked and contested as a computational model in social psychology and neuroscience. A further dimension outlines profound counter-discourses of the unconscious, articulated primarily through the indigenous, and through postcolonial and anthropological studies. A third aspect discusses what is counted as evidence of the unconscious and how this shapes its understanding. The paper draws on the literature of intergenerational transmission to illustrate how these dimensions overlap and how they both shape, and are shaped by the complex embodied experience of individual and collective unconscious processes.

The enigma of unintentional racial microaggressions

2024-12-12T00:07:28+00:00

Unintentional racial and cultural microaggressions towards indigenous and minority peoples while injurious to recipients, are characteristically not recognised by the perpetrator and when challenged, are often not able to be met with curiosity or the capacity for reflection. The difference in racial and cultural realities exposed in these encounters can lead to breakdowns in recognition and polarising dynamics which perpetuate structural oppression. They also represent missed opportunities for greater understanding of the ways socially sanctioned norms, assumptions and beliefs reinforce the implicit positioning of self and other as racial and cultural objects. Through consideration of the societal, interpersonal and intrapsychic aspects of the first author’s experience through heuristic enquiry (supervised by the second author), we consider unintentional racial microaggressive encounters and challenges as the observable outcome of implicit racialisation into colonial society. This article presents some discussion and implications for the discipline or profession of psychotherapy.

Klein’s Reparation and Jung’s Coniunctio

2024-12-12T00:07:15+00:00

Many patients report experiencing some form of intrapsychic attack, often manifesting in psychological and physical self-attack, and destructive interpersonal dynamics. Writers such as Melanie Klein (1940), Sigmund Freud (1917/1950), and Henri Rey (1994) offer hypotheses regarding the origins of such intrapsychic self-attack, and it is from these that the first ideas regarding the concept of the impulse to repair arise. However, an exploration of the relationship between Jungian perspectives, particularly in relation to the concept of the coniunctio, and psychoanalytic ideas regarding reparation of the inner world, is notably lacking. This paper explores both psychoanalytic and Jungian analytic theoretical perspectives, and the relationship between these, in articulating the ingredients which might contribute to true repair of the inner world within the patient, the analyst, and the therapeutic relationship. Clinical case material generated will be utilised to illustrate the clinical and theoretical material explored, and will illustrate my articulation of the elements which might contribute to true repair of the inner world within both the patient and the analyst, and within the therapeutic relationship.

Analysis as alternating “states of analysis” and “states of non-analysis” with reference to the book 'A Dangerous Daughter' by Diana Davis

2024-12-12T00:07:01+00:00

This paper focusses on how, in her book, A Dangerous Daughter (2021), Dina Davis describes the commencement of a psychoanalysis in which there is an interlacing of traditional psychoanalytic technique with education. Despite educative elements being a deviation from traditional psychoanalytic technique I argue that in sum total this process still amounts to analysis. I argue that analysis can be conceptualised as a dynamic balance between alternating “states of analysis” and “states of non-analysis”. Both are essentially part of analysis and education in analysis may be regarded as part of “states of non-analysis”. In this way education can be addressed in a conscious way by the analyst. There is potential further study of the question of how analysts might implement and monitor education in analysis.

Processing biculturalism

2024-12-12T00:06:47+00:00

This article reflects upon the author’s exploration of her process as an overseas trained psychotherapist who was born in Aotearoa New Zealand and has returned after many years away. The author reflects upon her recent encounters with the cultural history of Aotearoa New Zealand as she returns to this country and commences her clinical practice here. Woven throughout the author’s writing is her processing of her cultural learning experiences, and the implications this might have for her clinical work. In doing so the author draws on historians such as Anne Salmond, and psychotherapeutic theorists such as Jung, Winnicott, and Klein.

Internal and external destructiveness

2024-12-12T00:06:34+00:00

Stekel (1910/1967) suggests, “no one kills himself who has never wanted to kill another or at least wished the death of another” (cited in Bell, 2001, p. 24). In this paper, I will suggest that such inner destructiveness, if not murderousness, is reflected not only in the inner world of suicide but also in the microcosm of so many clinical presentations, be it, for example, relentless self-harm, the cruelty of emotional self-attack, the intrapsychic hatred of eating disorders, or the violence we perpetrate on ourselves, others, and the natural world. In the public sphere, such inner cruelty is further made manifest in Aotearoa’s tragic suicide statistics, horrific attacks on public figures, particularly when they reveal vulnerability, and cross-cultural attacks in relation to ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. These inner dynamics are further reflected in the macrocosm of interlinked global threats of the human-induced climate crisis, the threat of nuclear war, and the pandemic, in which psyche is writ large. Yet there is a profound absence in public discourse of reflection on the violence of our inner worlds, and how these cruel dynamics are replayed clinically, interpersonally, cross-culturally, and globally, generating destructive and murderous impulses and actions.

I will draw on a range of psychoanalytic and Jungian theoretical lenses in an exploration of the nature of inner destructiveness, and its manifestation, within both the clinician and the patient, and how this inner destructiveness also manifests in wider societal and global destructive dynamics. I will weave personal and composite fictional clinical vignettes to illustrate these ideas, and will conclude my paper with an exploration of how surrender to intrapsychic deaths, including surrender to the inevitable and painful mourning such surrender requires, might facilitate the emergence of more creative and life-giving responses, within ourselves as clinicians, within our psychotherapeutic relationships with patients, and in the cross-cultural and global communities and natural environments with which we are embedded, and within which life-giving responses are so crucially required.

Whakaora, Pae Ora

2024-12-12T00:06:20+00:00

The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Amendment Act 2019 and the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 have had major implications for the delivery of health services in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially with regard to equity of provision and delivery and to engaging and working with Māori as tangata whenua. As part of the previous New Zealand government’s restructuring of the health service, the Pae Ora Act set out certain principles for the health sector which this article discusses and applies to psychotherapy, and, specifically, with reference to two ethical codes and the standards of ethics for psychotherapists working in Aotearoa New Zealand. Notwithstanding the fact that the current New Zealand Parliament, dominated by the coalition government elected in October 2023, has repealed that part of the Pae Ora Act that established a separate Māori Health Authority as a way of delivering better outcomes, its principles remain in place and are important for psychotherapists practicing as health practitioners in this country.