Psychoanalysis after Freud

The concepts of the primeval skin ego, psychic envelope, and related pre-ego containing and wrapping functions elaborated respectively by Esther Bick, Didier Anzieu, and Francis Tustin occupy an important position in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. The psychic envelope begins as a virtual mental protostructure ("proto" because it is not yet based on fully symbolized representations) that holds the budding mind together pending further developments. With maturity, the enveloping functions adopt symbolized, metaphoric form (for example, the aesthetic use of cloth, the analytic framework), but can regress to more concrete and pathological forms. The aforementioned authors based their ideas on a cluster of specific allusions to the idea of a psychic covering, barrier, or envelope in Freud's work. Yet they neglected one reference, hidden in Freud's analysis of the structure ofjokes and humor: the 'joke envelope"--die witzige Einkleidung. The present essay explores Freud's use of the term Einkleidung, including his intriguing idea that a joke requires three people whereas a dream does not and the fact that Freud nowhere speaks of a "dream envelope. "I take the "joke envelope" beyond its original context and posit a relationship between laughter and the early, normative traumas of breathing, crying, and loss, and the dawn of rhythmic envelopes that enable mentalization. Jokes and joking symbolically repeat the early rupture and rapture of breathing and self-other differentiation and the internalization of maternal containing and envelopment.

most persistent and baffling question raised by Freud's psy choanalytic work is, precisely, what was it that he gave us? Witt genstein's instructive answer is that he propounded a new myth. The attractiveness, he says, the suggestion . . . that all anxiety is a repetition of the anxiety of the birth trauma, is just the attractive ness of a mythology.11 must say that I find this the most promising hint about Freud's sprawling work and should like to explore its usefulness in a general way. I shall be more interested here in what might be called the shape of Freud's conception than in a detailed analysis of the tenability of any of his particular theories: I take this to have been Wittgen stein's concern as well. Also, in the spirit of the effort, I thumbed through the short Collected Papers of Freud's work to find nearly random specimens of his characteristic remarks on a variety of topics. They fall together very suggestively. For instance, in a paper, Anal Erotism and the Castration Complex, Freud confidently remarks:

Both critical thinking and communication are interconnected with each other. The capability of the critical thinking process is applicable to improving the communication process. On the opposite side, good communication can easily influence the thinking process to become critical. The present study has investigated the evaluation of the role of critical thinking and effective communication in humanities. The researcher has associated with the understanding of how critical thinking can affect the communication process in humanities and also seeking the connected factors with it. Based on the elaboration of the result section, the research topic has been described in a better way with the implication of understanding themes. Data were extracted on basis of the research topic as the researcher has selected a “secondary qualitative data collection method” to collect relevant information. In estimating the collected data, the researcher has used the toolssuch as interpretivism research philosophy, inductive research approach, exploratory research design, and thematic analysis. It is an active procedure that needs proper attention and ideas to improve it in better use. Moreover, this research paper can help readers to understand the reasons and applicable tools for identifying the inner connection between critical thinking and effective communication Keyword : Benefits, Communication, Critical Thinking, Higher Education, Humanities, Knowledge, Thinking Skills.

The author uses contemporary psychoanalytic theory in further understanding the negotiation of conflict and dissociation in biracial patients who are both African-American and White. Drawing on the work of contemporary theorists who have made efforts to navigate the relationship between inner and outer worlds in our understanding of race from a psychoanalytic perspective, the author examines the relationship between race, culture, and internalized self-other relations—how they interact with each other and impact splitting and dissociative processes among self-states. The author argues for a notion of the unconscious as one that contains historical trauma related to race relations that influences the developing capacity to sustain internal conflict between opposing self-states borne out of this trauma. The author shows how society works against the integration of racialized self-states and interferes with the capacity to contain conflict. Through an extended clinical vignette from an analysis of a mixed-race patient, the author looks at the interplay of self-states between a White analyst (author) and a mixed-race patient (African-American and White) as manifested through a series of enactments and the unconscious “mating” between dissociated self-states in both patient and analyst. The author argues that the analyst's engagement of his or her own dissociated self-states and containment of internal conflict is critical to aiding the patient in moving toward greater integration.

This paper discusses Freud's classic contribution "Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning" in the historical context of the Freud-Jung relationship, covertly represented by an obscure dream with Freud's interpretation. Freud added the dream and its interpretation to a previous unpublished version of the paper Freud's analysis of his conflicts with Jung (and earlier with Fliess) particularly regarding parricide and plagiarism, contributed to the incipient psychoanalytic theory of aggression. The paper further explores psycho-biographical issues in the life and work of Freud, exemplified in the latent content of this classic paper The pleasure and reality principles are re-examined within contemporary psychoanalytic theory.

Cognitive differences and deficits are a fact of life, but this fact has not been highlighted in contemporary psychoanalytic theory. Using the self psychological concept of Kohut's tension arc as an example, this paper suggests that theoretical modifications are necessary to understand and therapeutically work with patients with learning deficits. Specific practical suggestions are made about how to therapeutically help individuals who struggle with these differences in psychobiological loading. Clearly, the inclusion of biological variables in psychoanalytic theory will lend itself to further study of how nature and nurture interact at various levels of the neuraxis.

Freud's writing on the topic of thought-transference stimulated controversy among analysts and original reflection on psychoanalytic understandings of the psyche. The notion of telepathy has also contributed significantly to the development of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts, including transference, projective identification, and primary forms of symbolization processes. The notion of telepathy, especially in light of current trends in post-Bionian and field theories, is used to outline an epistemological framework in which the clinical relevance of this notion becomes clear. Epistemological questions raised by telepathy and how this notion relates to the most originary and primary forms of the intersubjective relationship are addressed before questioning the conditions for the emergence of telepathy, its integration within contemporary psychoanalytic theory, and its ontological nature.

Contemporary psychoanalytic theory about feminine genital anxieties has shifted our focus away from some essential developmental realities of the little girl prior to the oedipal phase. Anal phase experience has recently been reemphasized as contributing significantly to the girl's developing body image, her mastery modes, and her psychological experience of gender. This paper proposes that associated with this phase is a specific anxiety described as the girl's fear that her genital is dirty, messy, and repellent to the love object, and that her sexuality is out of control and dangerously explosive. This is an important anxiety for the girl, a specific feminine version of anxiety around loss of love and approval. It derives from her bodily experience and is typically incorporated into the feminine genital anxieties of the oedipal period.

Art and truth are the two diferent beginnings of understanding our world, two possibilities that the artists themselves, as well as the authors of art history, often treat if not as opposite, then still as diferent in their fundamental essence. Mostly proceeding from the Platonic conception of idea (eidos) and form (morphe), the creation of the world of God and the creation of the world of man appears to us in the form of the piece of art what one can see and use but never understand in its final meanings and essence. Art is an attribute of idea, while truth in its turn is more profound than art, leaving art rather an illustrative role. The prerequisite of writing about truth is its logical foundation which, as the starting point of the epistemological side, prefers logical explanation, through which the output of the author fnds its place via the historical narrative or its semantic signifcance, being associated rather with the world that surrounds art than with art itself. According to this the non-epistemological fctional reality of art is given to us by diferent representations, while the truth remains to us a secret and a sort of Pandora’s box that nobody has yet been able to open. The present article should be understood as a quest that seeks to bring forth art’s actual nature from the shadow of diferent techniques, iconological approaches, political and social context, focusing in so doing on art as the unity of the external and the internal, including thereby the invisible and indistinguishable immaterial plasma, as well as the connected refection in the form of a visual image. At the same time, the author of this essay understands the discrepancy and the complicated nature of his aim. The article should be interpreted as a sort of search or then a pilgrimage into the depths of diferent opinions and evaluations of artistic reality, defning it from Aristotle to Plotinus, and from Kant to the new possibilities of phenomenology of the 20th century of Heidegger and Derrida. The aim of this article is to take under the observation and hesitation the methods achieved by the so-called “critical art history“, and instead of mourning the “art history” as a discoursive paradigm, to speak in the beneft of the new “history of art” where the pieces of art (artefacts) appear to us as fresh corals lifted up from the bottom of the ocean. As a sort of revelation art gives birth both to poetry and which, since Herder, has been characterized as the metaphysical and inexplicable essence of the image – as something that is born out of the darkness of fantasy opens as light on the paintings of Olav Maran, William Turner or Jan van Eyck. The precondition of understanding art is not a trace in memory (eidòlon) or an image (eikòn), but the idea itself, which does not appear before or after the facts but simultaneously with them, thus opening the deeper contents of our psychological subconsciousness, fowing out as ergon in any work of art. And not anywhere else – neither above nor below, right or left. Art and truth are two diferent sides of the one and the same phenomenon – the world as a piece of art, which can be experienced and understood time and again through the ability given to man to understand the world within the limits that we are able to understand. This makes the understanding of art both complicated and simple, seeking not so much the proof than the enlightening experience. Without ofering practical instructions and suggestions as to how we should recognize art or to write about it, the author of this essay has rather expressed his concern about the conventional approach to the history of art today which, while constantly approaching science, has deprived art of its most essential part. Having alienated from the magical cathartic feeling of the touch of the genius, which is mediated rather by the emotions of joy and sorrow, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, which we use anyway as our fundamental tools describing and perhaps understanding the world and ourselves. Having changed the universe (Greek: apeiros) into cosmos, we have been able to weave the warp into the fabric of art and art facts, yet without understanding the meaning of single forms which are born again and again between the light and myself as the recipient of light. As much as art can be the twin sister of science, it is a part of the human soul and the divine spirit which, as the religious recognition, will open itself only to those who themselves are ready to open themselves to it.

This desktop review reconceptualizes Sustainable Development Goal 4 (quality education) by examining digital learning’s impact on Kenyan international schools’ curricula. Analysing 15 Kenyan peer-reviewed studies (2019–2024) and OECD reports, we identify cognitive-pedagogical trade-offs: digital tools boost STEM engagement and collaboration (e.g., 25% KCSE gains via hybrid models) but risk fragmenting literacy and critical thinking in humanities due to screen-based distractions. Sweden’s evidence-led recalibration—prioritizing print for core literacy/math and digital tools for specialized tasks—reversed comprehension declines by 12%, offering Kenya a model for balancing innovation with foundational skills. Systemic gaps persist in Kenya, including urban-rural access divides, under-resourced teacher training, and low parental digital literacy, which exacerbate inequalities and threaten holistic development. To advance SDG 4 amid today’s technological challenges, we propose a participatory hybrid framework: (1) strategic screen-time governance (capping digital exposure at 30% for early literacy), (2) AI-augmented adaptive learning with ethical safeguards, and (3) community co-designed partnerships to align emerging technologies with localized needs. Case studies (e.g., Braeburn School’s print-digital scheduling; Trans Nzoia’s solar-powered tablets + story circles) demonstrate 15–25% academic gains and 90% student satisfaction when blending low- and high-tech methods. We urge policymakers to leverage strategic communication for stakeholder buy-in, emerging media technologies for equitable resource distribution, and AI governance to ensure tools serve pedagogical—not just technological—ends. Findings advocate for phased hybrid rollouts, teacher capacity building in blended facilitation, and parent-involved digital literacy initiatives to foster inclusive, future-ready education systems that reconcile SDG targets with tomorrow’s possibilities.

Using a serendipitous public art encounter as a point of departure, this article explores how what I call co‐productive acts are an important part of building relationships between individuals, public art installations, communities, and public art programs. This article is a “thought piece”; as such, I present an introductory examination into an important arena in need of further inquiry: public art and co‐productive acts. As will be made clear, co‐productive acts are different from the production of public art, co‐productions, and collaborations. Though all are important parts of the making of public art, they occur at different times in the life cycle of a piece, and involve different people and interactions. Many people are unaware of their community's public art program (e.g., the process, the funding, and the collection); however, when they experience a piece of public art, there is a possibility that they might have a very different understanding of the piece, themselves, the collection, and the public art program. As a contribution to the literature and practice of public art, I pose questions and suggest directions for further inquiry that might help the field consider how co‐productive acts are, indeed, an important part of the life of public art (installations and municipal public art programs).

Purpose: This study is a descriptive research study conducted to identify the relationship and influencing factors between communication competence, critical thinking competence, problem-solving ability, clinical performance competence and person-centered care competence of nursing students who have experienced clinical practice.
 Method: The subjects of this study were students enrolled in the nursing departments of two four-year universities located in 2 areas, and the 3rd and 4th graders who had more than 1 semester of clinical practice were conveniently extracted. Data were collected from September to December 2023. Data analysis was analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 program by t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient.
 Results: As a result of the study, There were significant differences in communication competence in gender (p=.029), age (p=.039), grade (p=.030), satisfaction with nursing department (p<.001), satisfaction with clinical practice (p<.001), number of participation in personality-related education (p=.012), volunteer time (p=.011), the need for person-centered care at the nursing site (p<.001), and the degree of interpersonal relationships (p<.001). In terms of problem-solving skill, there were significant differences in grade (p=.011), religion (p<.001), clinical practice satisfaction (p=.003), volunteer time (p=.003), clinical practice experience department (p=.041), the need for person-centered care at the nursing site (p<.001), and interpersonal relations (p<.001). In terms of clinical performance competence, there were significant differences in religion (p=.005), satisfaction with clinical practice (p<.005), number of participation in personality-related education (p=.030), volunteer time (p=.002), clinical practice experience department (p=.005), the need for person-centered care at the nursing site (p<.001), and interpersonal relationship (p<.001). In terms of person-centered care competence of nursing, there were significant differences in gender (p=.008), religion (p=.002), satisfaction with clinical practice (p<.001), volunteer time (p=.002), the need for person-centered care at the nursing site (p<.001), and interpersonal relationship (p<.001). Subject's communication competence averaged 4.04 out of 5, problem-solving skill was 3.87 points, clinical performance competence was 4.09, critical thinking competence was 3.87 points, and person-centered care competence was 4.21 points. Person-centered care competence was found to have a significant positive correlation with communication competence (r=.511, p<.001), problem-solving skill (r=.601, p<.001), clinical performance competence (r=.813, p<.001), and critical thinking competence (r=.423, p<.001). The more time nursing students spent volunteering, the better their interpersonal relationships, and the more they felt the need for person-centered care at the nursing site, the higher their person-centered care competence.
 Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to induce nursing students to use a lot of volunteer programs in order to increase their person-centered care competence, and it is necessary to develop and actively guide convergence extracurricular activities linked to subjects. In the clinical field, it is necessary to develop and apply an effective clinical practice program based on a person-centered nursing model in which students analyze subjects and solve problems through the reasoning process of critical thinking.

Master and apprentice: Evidence for learning in palaeolithic portable art

Spirituality is an important part of human experience. So is culture. Most discussions of spirituality focus on the individual dimension of spirituality. But we believe that there is a cultural dimension to spirituality and a spiritual dimension to culture. By drawing on the connection between the two, adult educators can create educational experiences that are both culturally relevant and transformative. Culture is the common beliefs, values, language, images, symbols, and behaviors shared by a particular social group (Guy, 1999). Nearly all human knowledge and experience, including spiritual experience, will be shared and given expression through culture--in language, in music, in art, or in symbol making. Indeed, people construct knowledge and make meaning in powerful and ways through symbol, music, art, metaphor, and ritual--what faith development theorist James Fowler (1981) refers to as and unconscious structuring (p. 103). These aspects of knowledge production and ways of knowing are at the of the way spiritual knowing is often expressed. But such manifestations of knowing through symbolic and processes are also deeply cultural. Thus, they connect us back to our cultural selves, which is why spirituality can have an important role to play in culturally relevant education that draw on learners' cultural and group-based identities in the learning environment. We are making certain assumptions as we try to teach for social transformation and cultural relevance. First, it is important to define what we mean by spirituality. As we've discussed elsewhere (Tisdell, 2003; Tolliver & Tisdell, 2001), spirituality is related to: (a) a connection to what many refer to as the Life-force, God, a higher power or purpose, Great Mystery, or Buddha Nature; (b) a sense of wholeness, healing, and the interconnectedness of all things; (c) meaning-making; (d) the ongoing development of one's identity (including one's cultural identity) moving toward greater authenticity; (e) how people construct knowledge through largely and symbolic processes manifested through image, symbol, and music, which are often cultural. In addition, spirituality is different from, but for some people, related to religion. Finally, spiritual experiences often happen by surprise. Understanding how these dimensions of spirituality play out in our own lives and those of adult learners with whom we work offers new direction to culturally relevant adult education. Second, based on our experience as educators, we are assuming people are more likely to have transformational experiences if they are engaged on three levels of their individual being: the cognitive, the affective, and the symbolic or spiritual. Clearly, people do not have transformative learning experiences about issues of race, gender, or culture and power disparities therein, only through rational discourse or critical reflection. While we agree, as Mezirow (1995) suggests, that critical reflection is necessary, we believe that it is EQUALLY necessary to engage people on the affective or heart level. Further, transformative learning is perhaps better anchored if we engage on the spiritual level as well, and draw on how people construct knowledge through processes. Thus, in our classes, participants often create and share a poem, an art piece, a story, a symbol that gives further meaning to their learning journey at the end of the course. This sometimes connects the cultural, the spiritual, the affective, and the cognitive dimensions of who they are. It's important for educators to both set the stage for connecting spirituality and culture and to provide some role modeling. We often begin our classes with a greeting or ritual that encourages learners to make contact with every other person in the group. As a woman of African descent, Derise (Tolliver) also incorporates African proverbs as a way to reflect upon the content of a course, the process of the work, or the energy of the group. …

This paper presents a literature review conducted to establish what was already known about critical reflection in the nursing literature and what work had been done on using a critical social theory framework as the basis for critical reflection. Critical thinking emerged as a significant aspect of nursing education and practice in the late 1980s. It has been promoted as a means by which issues in clinical practice can be examined through a systematic process of exploration and reasoning. Traditionally, critical thinking has commonly involved an attempt to link practice with theory using a scenario or exemplar from practice to illustrate a practice dilemma. This process is often constructed as a retrospective narrative of events. This paper provides a deconstructive-reconstructive approach that differs from some traditional approaches by taking a critical social theory perspective with an emphasis on improving practice. The nursing literature reviewed was accessed through Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). The search was restricted to English language and published between 1995 and 2005. Based on these findings, we developed a postgraduate advanced mental health nursing programme. There were 490 articles related to 'nursing' and 'critical thinking'; 34 articles related to 'nursing' and 'critical reflection'; 23 articles related to 'nursing' and 'critical social theory'; 15 articles related to 'mental health nursing' and 'critical thinking'; and two articles related to 'mental health nursing' and 'critical reflection'. In the programme we developed based on these findings, students were facilitated to deconstruct concepts and knowledge integral to their own practice. In the reconstructive phase, students implement a change project in clinical practice, supported by a mentor. The deconstructive-reconstructive approach to the development of critical thinking skills provides advanced practitioner with the opportunity to integrate practice, theory and research.