IPSS PSYCHOANALYTIC EXPLORATIONS with DARREN HABER and D. BRADLEY JONES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2022, 8pm – 9:30pm

A chapter from his newly published book: Addiction, Accommodation, and Vulnerability in Psychoanalysis: Circles Without a Center, Routledge, 2022

discussant

This presentation draws upon the work of Franz Kafka in illustrating the dark ironies and absurdities of the compulsive use of pornography, as exemplified in a case study. In The Trial (Kafka, 1946), protagonist Josef K finds himself randomly arrested, searching in vain for the nature of the charges—an apt description for those struggling with compulsive behaviors and subsequent guilt or shame, most often in the wake of unrecognized early trauma. In “The Metamorphosis” (1948), we observe a young man whose transformation into a giant insect is somehow less monstrous than the indifference of his family, now regarding him as useless since he can no longer earn a living to support them. Gregor Samsa’s inability to accommodate family demands also typifies the relational world of patient James, in thrall to compulsive use of pornography as a buffer against his wife’s inflexible demands and criticisms. James’ inability to mitigate her scalding wrath, and my inability to mitigate the addiction that mitigates such injury, provokes a mutually-reinforcing dyadic shame and sense of failure, both of us caught in Kafkan confusion. It is as if we are both Josef K. In the end, recognizing my own archaic abandonments unrecognized by addictive caregivers, and a subsequent transference to James and his relational world, allows me to “lean in” rather than subtly detour around James’ anguish. Also helpful is co-exploring the affective function of his compulsivity, reducing shame and expanding dyadic illumination, with an easing of a mutualized “criminality.”

(Meeting link will be e-mailed to registered participants on the day of the event)