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libido turning from phantasy of objects, into ego-libido, i.e. focussed on the self alone. The God-Almightiness seems to correspond to an advanced stage of narcissism; one is supremely content with oneself and one's powers, refusing to take any external considerations into account. One believes in all seriousness that the impossible phantasies of what one can do (ego-phantasies) are possible. For example I was prepared to take to pieces God, the universe and myself all at once, and felt quite confident of being able to put them together again. One approaches closely the infantile 'omnipotence of thought' stage. Following this comes the dissociation of self-consciousness, whereupon one seems to be a conscious, intelligent, unselfconscious automaton, with the belief that all personality is a delusion, that there are no 'I's' to think, that thoughts and actions do themselves. This seems to correspond to Jung's dissolution of the persona. It resulted in this case from an investigation into the nature of the conative and affective trends in my infant life before consciousness of self had developed, after memory had been retraced personally to within the first year of life. All the infantile impulses preceding this in analysis (i.e. later ontogenetically) had been re-experienced in consciousness. I had not realised beforehand how completely consciousness of self could be lost for the time being through allowing the libido to regress below the level of self-consciousness; or rather, how the unselfconscious self could retain mature cognition and intelligence coupled with infantile conation and affect. This produced a delightful feeling of irresponsibility and no desire to put itself together again, as a self, since all went on automatically without any possibility of conscious control or interference. There appeared to be no feeling of responsibility for thoughts or actions, since they just came and did themselves, until the stability of the dissociated, previously organised, self-regarding sentiment swung the balance back spontaneously as it had been relied upon to do. There was no conscious interference either from within or from without. Thus the persona, instead of being a mask simulating personality, seems to correspond to the development of selfconsciousness from the consciousness in the infant (or other animal) before an idea of the self as subject and object, i.e. object for itself, has arisen. Libido freed from higher levels through analysis regresses to its earlier forms progressively before the intention to sublimate and use it as personal suffices to direct it into social channels.

Janet's recognition that neurotic symptoms are the expression of subconscious ideas forms the link between his work and the psychoanalytical views. The subconscious or, as Freud would call them, un

conscious ideas, dynamically seeking expression and satisfaction, produce the symptoms as compromise formations between the unconscious forces and those on the side of the conscious personality which are maintaining the incompatible ones in a state of repression. But instead of the patient desiring the anxiety which seems the most real affect he feels, what the patient really clings to, according to Freud, is the substitute satisfaction for the unconscious impulse, which is removed by the destruction of the symptom. He believes that part of him really wants something incompatible with the conscious ideal, and the anxiety results from the fear that the thwarted impulse will prove stronger, also that when this fear is experienced the method of dealing with such impulses has failed. The two conflicting desires are, one, to satisfy the impulse from the unconscious, the other, to prevent the impulse reaching consciousness. The neurotic symptom is an expression of the failure of both.

Since it requires an output of energy to prevent an impulse entering consciousness, the psychic force available for adaptation to life is diminished in proportion as the unconscious impulse is strong; for not only is the energy seeking expression withdrawn from conscious control, but that inhibiting it is not available for any other purpose. This may explain Janet's "weakening of the psychical synthesis," inasmuch as so much energy is tied up and rendered useless in conflict, that that available for synthesizing and co-ordinating mental activity is seriously depleted. The hysteric, likewise, is one in whom the conflict has been so far successful that consciousness has prevented the impulse from reaching itself, and has repressed it to go its own way in the unconscious. The choice of hysteria (corresponding to conversion hysteria) or psychasthenia (corresponding to anxiety hysteria) is dependent upon several factors, hereditary tendencies and early environmental conditions.

As Janet says, the girl with obsessing erotic phantasies in all probability is not receiving any physical sexual satisfaction; but it does not follow that she does not want it. She has simply refused to admit to herself that she has straightforward sexual desires. The result is that these, receiving no satisfaction in reality, are repressed into the unconscious and emerge as veritable obsessions, having regressed to earlier immature methods of satisfaction in phantasy, as a substitute for mature satisfaction in act. Libido, thwarted and repressed, inevitably regresses to any stage which had provided it with temporary satisfaction. in infancy. These outlived stages are repugnant to conscious thought, hence the conscious horror at the obsession, and the unconscious clinging to it as the sole satisfaction available. Regression of course is not the

only outcome of thwarting sexual desire, but it is the inevitable outcome of thwarting it from without, and then refusing to recognise its unsatisfied presence. Once repressed, regression follows. Suppressed1, and held in consciousness, it finds its own channels of sublimation in time. Sublimation is an unconscious process2, which however can only deal with impulses in the preconscious; it cannot affect impulses in the unconscious proper. Freud has also recently formulated this antithetical inhibition of sublimation by repression, confirming the conclusion reached by me independently through personal experience.

The 'depersonalisation' of Janet is probably due to a considerable portion of ego-libido having been drawn away to reinforce object libido in order to overcome some obstacle to the satisfaction of the latter. Another portion is used up in preventing this satisfaction as incompatible with the ego-ideal. This leaves a very much smaller proportion of egolibido attached to its normal object. There is a corresponding shrinking of self respect and finally, in extreme cases, even of the sense of personality, though probably, in conjunction with this, part of the libido regresses to the pre-personal stage.

1 Suppression refers to the inhibition of an impulse in action, repression, to the inhibition of the affect associated with the impulse as well, which involves a lack of awareness of the impulse.

2 The sublimation of conscious impulses can occur, but even here the process appears to function unconsciously, although the intention to sublimate is conscious.

105

THE RELIABILITY OF PSYCHO-
ANALYTIC FINDINGS

BY GIRINDRASHEKHAR BOSE.

In every department of knowledge it is sometimes desirable to examine the foundation on which it rests. The different sciences do not all stand on equally solid grounds. The fundamental assumptions in Physics and Chemistry for instance are capable of much better experimental verification than those in medicine. Absolute certainty-except perhaps in logic and mathematics-is an impossibility in any department of knowledge. So long as we are dealing with observational facts we are on comparatively sure grounds, but directly we attempt an interpretation of such findings our position becomes much less secure. The real business of science is, however, interpretation. The same facts may be explained on the basis of more than one supposition and the warrant for any particular interpretation is really a question of probability. Curiously enough when an interpretation has been in the field for a sufficient length of time it is apt to lose its real significance and is mistaken for a fact. As an illustration I might mention the theory of the earth revolving on its own axis to account for the diurnal motion of the sun. At the present day very few people would be inclined to take it merely as a theory. The majority would look upon it as a fact. It must be remembered here that what we call facts may psychologically be designated as perceptions. The apparent motion of the sun round the visible portion of the earth is the 'fact' here. In former times we believed in the real motion of the sun to account for the perception and when the theory of the revolution of the earth was brought forward it was hotly contested. But this theory was finally accepted because it explained many other associated facts, e.g. the nocturnal movement of the stars etc. in much simpler a manner than the other theory. This theory has been so often stated that at the present time we have forgotten its real position as an interpretation and are likely to mistake it as a 'fact'. In Physics we have been so much accustomed to mistake the Newtonian interpretations as 'facts' that the theory of Einstein has come as a shock to many of us. It is highly desirable therefore that we occasionally take stock of our

knowledge and sift facts from theories so that progress may be unhindered. In this paper I have attempted such an investigation in the department of Psycho-analysis. I must mention that this is not a new effort in this line. Ernest Jones in his book on Psycho-analysis has discussed this problem in the section entitled "Warrant for Interpretations" (see Papers on Psycho-analysis by Ernest Jones, 1918, p. 87). The subject is so important from the scientific standpoint that I do not hesitate to go over this field again even at the risk of some repetition. Critics very often condemn psycho-analytic interpretations as fanciful and unscientific and there are psycho-analysts who do not hesitate to dogmatise on their findings and regard them as 'settled facts' even when the analysis has been of a very cursory nature.

Psycho-analysis is concerned with the unearthing of unconscious elements of the mind and as such it labours under certain peculiar difficulties which are not apparent in other sciences. The very nature of the unconscious elements is such as to resist their emergence into the conscious sphere and even when they have been unearthed the tendency is to disown them. Emotional factors very seldom stand in the way of acceptance of any physical theory, but not so in psycho-analysis. Psychoanalysis brings to light those tendencies of the mind which are being suppressed in the course of evolution; it drags us back to the past which we would all like to forget. We are therefore apt to underestimate the value of such findings. On the other hand there is a certain type of mind which takes peculiar pleasure in dwelling on things shunned by the majority and to such persons all psycho-analytic conclusions assume an exaggerated significance. In the face of these contradictory tendencies of the mind it is extremely difficult to maintain an unbiassed attitude and to evaluate the findings on a strict scientific basis. Some sort of criterion is therefore all the more necessary in psycho-analysis to judge the relative value of the assertions of different workers.

In some laboratories students are required to keep a record of their work under three headings, viz. (1) Experiment, (2) Observation and (3) Inference. This classification although somewhat old-fashioned is useful as it serves to emphasize the different functions of a science. The aim of experiment and observation is the collection of facts and the aim of inference is to help in the formulation of a theory. It will be seen that in psycho-analysis the field for experiment is not very great. Observation certainly plays a very important part. A chance symptomatic action sometimes gives the physician a direct clue to the understanding of a complicated symptom. It is necessary therefore that the

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