The Concepts ofVínculoAND DIALECTICAL SPIRAL: a BRIDGE BETWEEN INTRA-AND INTERSUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

The authors explore the psychoanalytic concepts of vínculo and dialectical spiral within the context of a historical review of the development of psychoanalysis in the Río de la Plata region of Uruguay and Argentina. In particular, they discuss the work of Enrique Pichon-Rivière, Madeleine and Willy Baranger, and José Bleger. Illustrative clinical material is included from a case described by Bleger. Convergences and divergences are noted between the theoretical and clinical approaches of these authors, on the one hand, and those of more traditionally Freudian, Kleinian, and other schools of analysis, on the other. Also, the authors underline some questions about the nature of vínculo that are currently under discussion in the Río de la Plata.

José Bleger's thinking about psychoanalysis

“…He went into analysis with Enrique Pichon Rivière, a man of extraordinary personal qualities whose diverse research interests included psychiatry, psychoanalysis and the psychology of groups and institutions. If one can speak of an Argentinian school of psychology and psychoanalysis, this was to a large extent inspired by ‘Pichon’, who was a gifted oral teacher (Pichon Rivière, , , , , and undated; Bernardi and de Leon Bernardi, ). Those who are familiar with Pichon's style readily find implicit references to his thought in Bleger's writings.…”

Transference, relationship and the analyst as object: Findings from the north american comparative clinical methods working party

“…Fie cases fell into this category.In many of these cases, attending to both transference and relationship resulted in work that seemed quite helpful to the analysand, work that was sensitive to shifts within the patient and his or her capacities during the course of treatment, even while some analysts did not hold an articulated model about how they integrated these perspectives. (An example of such an explicit model would be, for example, Bernardi and Bernardi, , in their discussion of the Latin American concept of vinculo, or the intertwining of relationship and transference in a “dialectical spiral”). At some points in some cases, particularly when volatile emotional states were being expressed, the analyst's movement from interpretation of underlying transference dynamics to the interpretation of the ‘actual’ state of the analytic relationship seemed to have the potential to cause at least temporary confusion.…”

Collusive induction in perverse relating: Perverse enactments and bastions as a camouflage for death anxiety

“…The fall of this collusive shared fantasy mobilized the field, setting in motion a progressive dialectical movement (‘ proceso en espiral ’; W. Baranger, [‘dialectical spiral’; Bernardi and De Leon de Bernardi, ]) in the analytic situation that gradually allowed C to recover, re‐signify and integrate his split‐off archaic parts: in our dialogue, C and I were now able to talk freely about death, not as an abstract philosophical issue, but as a universal human reality that triggered a wide array of fantasies and feelings. C's associations and memories and my interpretations and reconstructions together configured an intersubjective movement, both retrospective and prospective, that validated and deepened the hypothesis that C's archaic death anxiety had played an important role in the genesis of his perverse organization: for my part, I was able to find words to formulate C's infantile traumatic experiences (for which he had no words), thus helping him tolerate and give meaning to his nameless death anxieties which had not been contained and verbalized by his parents; for his part, C began to use words to communicate and construct (with the help of another's subjective perspective) a new vision of his past and present reality.…”