Gavin Ivey

Victoria University, Department of Psychology, Faculty Member

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A case study of narcissistic pathology : an object relations perspective

The case-study method of psychological research was applied to the brief psychodynamic therapy of... more The case-study method of psychological research was applied to the brief psychodynamic therapy of a narcissistically disordered female patient. The aim of this research was to explore, clarify and explain certain diagnostic and psychodynamic anomalies to emerge in the course of treatment, using a conceptual framework derived from select psychoanalytic object relations theorists in the area of narcissistic pathology. The author, discovering that there was no diagnostic or explanatory object relations model adequate to the therapeutic data, formulated his own diagnostic category narcissistic neurosis and an eclectic object relations model in order to explain the anomolous research findings. Narcissistic neurosis was defined as a form of psychopathology in which a primarily neurotic character structure presents with a distinctly narcissistic profile. The narcissistic false self-structure serves the functional purpose of protecting the psyche from a repressed negative self-representation derived from a destructive bipolar self-object introject. The primary etiological factor to emerge was that of a narcissistic mother conditional affection and self-object target child necessitated adaptive whose insensitivity, relationship with the premature self-sufficiency and the defensive emergence of a narcissistic surface self-representation. It was proposed that narcissistic neurosis and narcissistic personality disorder are two discrete forms of pathology differing in terms of severity, psychodynamics, defensive structure, mode of object relating, therapeutic accessibility and prognosis. Assessment criteria were proposed in order to differentiate the two areas of narcissistic pathology and assess suitability for psychotherapeutic treatment. Positive treatment results in this case-study suggest that narcissistic neuroses may receive long-term benefit from short-term psychodynamic therapy

Trainee psychologists’ experiences of learning and conducting psychodynamic therapy via telepsychology

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Donald Meltzer: a contemporary introduction

Psychodynamic Practice

Acknowledgement of Editorial Consultants

Theory & Psychology, 2009

In addition to the extensive consulting services provided by the Editorial Board, Theory &amp... more In addition to the extensive consulting services provided by the Editorial Board, Theory &amp;amp; Psychology relies on the expert judgement of specialists in many subdisciplines to evaluate manuscripts submitted for publication. The Editor gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following Editorial Consultants who reviewed manuscripts for Volume 20. Their careful and judicious assessments are greatly appreciated and are important in helping the journal maintain the highest standards of scholarship.

Interpreting hidden meaning in qualitative research interview data: opportunities and challenges

Qualitative Research in Psychology

Referee report. For: 'Strong clinging to objects': materiality and relationality in Melanie Klein's Observations after an Operation (1937) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

SFILM ESSAY : Sex in the mourning: Oedipal love and loss in The door in the floor (2004)

International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2006

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Object relations and social relations: The implications of the relational turn in psychoanalysis

Subjectivity, 2011

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Trainee clinical psychologists’ experience of mandatory personal psychotherapy in the context of professional training

Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2013

The professional and personal impact of mandatory personal therapy (MPT) on clinical psychologist... more The professional and personal impact of mandatory personal therapy (MPT) on clinical psychologists in training was explored through qualitative analysis of interviews with nine intern clinical psychologists. Participants’ reported initial resistance to treatment, but subsequently came to own and value their therapy as an indispensable professional resource. MPT reduces expectations of clinical supervision, while clinical training and personal therapy were viewed as reciprocally enhancing components of professional growth. Participants believed that they benefitted personally from their treatment and that the compulsory nature of the therapy did not compromise its positive effects. While providing containment and support during the personally challenging clinical training, MPT is itself emotionally taxing, financially stressing, and affects personal relationships in complex ways.

The Problems of Intentional Therapist Self-Disclosure in Psychoanalytic Therapy: A Critical Response to Zelda Knight

South African Journal of Psychology, 2009

... course of this reply to her paper, I will outline some of the specific problems with her appr... more ... course of this reply to her paper, I will outline some of the specific problems with her approach to self-disclosure, before arguing ... school of psychoanalytic thought - but by concern that in the absence of formal psychoanalytic training in this "psychoanalytic diaspora" (Swartz, 2007 ...

The Dead Father, L.J. Kalinich and S.W. Taylor (Eds.) : book review

Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 2009

With the object relations revolution privileging the mother-infant dyad in the genesis of psychic... more With the object relations revolution privileging the mother-infant dyad in the genesis of psychic life, fathers' role in psychoanalytic theory became a marginalized one. Consequently, for a considerable period of time post-Freud not much was written about fathering and its impact on infant development. A new psychoanalytic text on fathers is thus to be welcomed. The Dead Father, edited by Columbia University's Lila Kalinich and Stuart Taylor, is an intriguing collection of eleven original papers. The dead father of the title refers to the patriarch of Freud's mythical primal horde, who was murdered by his sons because of his refusal to allow them sexual access to the women. Their ensuing guilt inaugurated oedipal prohibition and the triumph of culture over rampant instinctual gratification. Contra Freud, no scholars accept this primal patricide as historical fact. But, as the introduction notes, this prehistoric fable 'offers a view into psychic structure contingent ...

Critiques of projective identification : a critical evaluation

Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 2004

Melanie Klein's concept of projective identification has had a significant impact on psychoan... more Melanie Klein's concept of projective identification has had a significant impact on psychoanalytic theory and practice, particularly following its interpersonal reformulation by a number of authors. However, it has been - and continues to be - criticized by a number of authors from a range of psychoanalytic perspectives. This paper addresses the issue of why projective identification has been considered so important, before considering some of the objections to the concept. These include the concept's growing vagueness and lack of precision, the fallacy of psychic translocation, the issue of making patient's responsible for countertransference experience, and the claim that traditional introjective-projective processes suffice in explaining the relevant clinical events. These critiques are discussed in detail with reference to a clinical vignette. In light of these critiques, a more precise definition of projective identification is proposed. Three of the posited altern...

The devil's dominion: stanism and social stress

Indicator South Africa, 1992

Containing states of mind : exploring Bion's 'container model' in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Duncan Cartwright : book review

Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 2010

Of all the post-classical theoretical advances in psychoanalysis, Bion's container-contained ... more Of all the post-classical theoretical advances in psychoanalysis, Bion's container-contained model (of mental development) has been one of the most influential. Despite its origins in Melanie Klein's theory of projective identification, it burst the latter's conceptual limits to become a new model of mind, a new way of viewing the interaction between minds, and a new way of understanding how psychoanalysis impacts positively on disturbed states of mind. Given its professional importance, it is curious that no author has devoted an entire book to the therapeutic meanings and applications of containment dynamics - until now, that is.

Countertransference pathology in South African Psychotherapy

Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 1992

The issue of countertransference pathology, whereby psychotherapists' interventions are deter... more The issue of countertransference pathology, whereby psychotherapists' interventions are determined largely by their own unconscious needs rather than the therapeutic needs of their patients, is a familiar one in psychoanalytic circles. This paper, however, focuses on a neglected aspect of countertransference pathology, namely the relationship between personal countertransference and the therapists' clinical training and supervision, It is argued that South African therapists are particularly predisposed to countertransference pathology owing to the particular supervisory orientations employed at our training institutions.

Object Relations in Depression : A Return to Theory, Trevor Lubbe : book review

Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 2011

Trevor Lubbe, co-founder and first co-editor of this journal back in 1992, has made a significant... more Trevor Lubbe, co-founder and first co-editor of this journal back in 1992, has made a significant contribution to the development of psychoanalytic thinking and practice in South Africa. He has also published numerous articles and an edited book, 'The Borderline Psychotic Child', but 'Object Relations in Depression' is his first monograph.

The psychic truth of fiction: psychoanalytic interpretation of drama and childrens literature in two books by Margaret and Michael Rustin

Despite the seductive flicker of satellite television and the instantly accessible visual enterta... more Despite the seductive flicker of satellite television and the instantly accessible visual entertainment of computer games and DVD movies, people continue to read fiction and go the theatre. The fulfilment derived from immersion in the fictional worlds of books and the physicality of dramatic action endures, despite the technological onslaught of instant electronic gratification.

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Time, Space and Phantasy, Rosine J. Perelberg : book review

This issue is continued in the last chapter, 'The infant and the infantile: On psychoanalytic... more This issue is continued in the last chapter, 'The infant and the infantile: On psychoanalytic research'. The title addresses Daniel Stern's distinction between the 'observed infant' and the 'clinical infant'. Whereas the former is directly observable, the clinical infant - later manifest as the infantile aspects of the adult - is not, but is the product of an interpretive-reconstructive process by the analyst in the transference-countertransference relationship.

What is Psychoanalysis : 100 Years after Freud's Secret Committee, by Barnaby Barratt : book review

Because the answer would be self-evident, it is unlikely that anything other than an introductory... more Because the answer would be self-evident, it is unlikely that anything other than an introductory text in another professional field would carry a title such as this. But, despite having occupied an institutional and ideological niche in Western society for over a century, the nature of psychoanalysis remains unsettled and unsettling. More than any other discourse and discipline, it attracts and demands ongoing critical examination. The title of Barnaby Barratt's book tells us both about the perpetually controversial subject of inquiry and the persistently interrogative stance of the inquirer. The subtitle refers to Freud's establishment of a trusted inner circle to defend psychoanalytic orthodoxy from heretical interpretations and practices. This inevitably failed and today the discipline is riven by dissenting factions, dogmatic ideologies, divergent models of human functioning and significantly differing clinical practices.

The problem with intentional therapist self-disclosure in psychoanalytic treatment

Gavin Ivey

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