Some Remarks on Dγsphoria from an Anthropological Point of View

The borderline syndrome, a typical marginal structure, is certainly a specific, autonomous pathology, with its own distinctive characteristics: among them, acting out, cyclical repetition of events without historical progression and anaclitic depression. Kohut’s concept of ‘narcissistic hunger’ is particularly pertinent to the borderline condition: the borderline patient hungers to have that which is missing in his being. Through the application of the related notions of ‘tragic man’, ‘self objects’, ‘grandiose self’, and ‘damaged self’, the authors further develop their theory that the borderline syndrome has much in common with paranoid personalities.

Section: Structural Elements Of 'Marginal Syndromes'mentioning

confidence: 79%

Anger and Narcissism: Between the Void of Being and the Hunger for Having

Muscatello¹,

Scudellari²

2000

“…There is a psychopathological discussion of anger which contributes to shedding light on the disturbing profiles. I refer to the anger of the borderline and that of the sensitive character, both tragic angers inasmuch as they are lethal, and lethal because no future is announced in them, but only the eternal revival of a destiny which seems to be without escape, as is revealed by the analyses of the temporalisation of anger [5].…”

Section: Urbanising Anger: the Psychopathological Discourse On Angermentioning

confidence: 99%

Dysphoria, Vulnerability and Identity

Stanghellini

2000

Compared with the bulk of psychiatric literature dedicated to sadness or euphoria, dysphoric states have received relatively little attention. Perhaps we find ourselves facing a removal of anger from the horizon of contemporary psychopathology. Even less attention is given to the ‘doublets’ of anger. Anger marks off a region of the psyche within which the game of identity is played: as indignation, it defends the limits of that which is tolerable, the border upon which to keep watch, the trench from which to fight. But as fury, in the excess of the absolute affirmation of one’s own existence, it incarnates the wreckage and the bloody fall of identity – i.e. pathology. The topic then collects the interweaving of the subjectivising character of rage on the one side, and on the other the explosive one, which breaks up the unifying and conciliatory direction which rationality enforces upon the subject – ‘anger of life’ and ‘anger of death’. Both dimensions are explored with special concern to the reason for empathising with anger.

“…Similarly, A12 had conflicts in his relations with his wife. These mixed states or conflicts are considered to be a reflection of aggressiveness originally included in the dependent tendency and to have a structure similar to that of dysphoria, as seen in the cases of Ballerini and Stanghellini [27]. Although most other patients with bipolar II disorder also exhibited mixed states and complained of similar conflicts, no patient in the unipolar group exhibited mixed states, only a few of them complained of problems with family members, and their complaining was limited to the period of their depression.…”

Section: Premorbid Personality Onset Clinical Features and Treatmenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bipolar II Disorder and Its Premorbid Personality

Takata¹,

Takaoka²

2000

This study psychopathologically analyzes and compares the premorbid personalities associated with bipolar II disorder and unipolar depression. Using Cloninger’s tridimensional personality theory, we evaluated 14 inpatients with bipolar II disorder and 14 inpatients with unipolar depression. The results indicate that the premorbid personality associated with bipolar II disorder is characterized as ‘the reward-dependent, passive-avoidant/dependent tendency of personality’ or ‘the dependent tendency of personality’. We also clarified that atypical symptoms of bipolar II disorder, such as the hypomanic state and the mixed state, were induced by the mingling of this tendency with the melancholic personality type (Tellenbach) or the cycloid personality type (Kretschmer), both of which are based on syntony (Minkowski), categorized by the use of an obsessional defense mechanism to maintain stable social relations. When an insufficiency in the obsessional defense weakens the syntony, the dependent tendency engenders the symptoms stated above. Although few serious problems associated with the dependent tendency may have occurred previously, it may have resulted in conflicts with others after onset of the bipolar II disorder. Therefore, psychotherapy for these conflicts is necessary along with the administration of mood stabilizers.