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This is the second volume of an annual series reporting the scientific proceedings of the Academy of Psychoanalysis. It is divided into two main parts, one entitled “Masochism” and the other, “Familial and Social Dynamics.”
Part I begins with a detailed clinical and theoretical study of masochism by Dr. Leon Salzman. He feels that the masochist “tends to berate, belittle, or actively destroy the
self or part of the self in order to obtain some psychic reward or relief of tension.” The masochist escapes real responsibility for his actions and lives by a special set of values which he has devised as necessary to his physical and psychological survival. Although masochistic elements are present in all human behavior, it is called masochism when it forms the core of the psychodynamic defense process.
Salzman presents the case history of a twenty-five-year-old woman who was continually self-tormenting and self-defeating. He gives a frank description of his own inner reactions to the patient's sado-masochistic maneuvers. There is a detailed account of the patient-analyst relationship. Salzman declares that analytic passivity is to be avoided with these patients and advocates direct, active, but skillful intervention.
In the next paper, entitled “Masochism and Self-Realization,” Dr. Harold Kelman describes Horney's ideas on masochism and relates some of his experiences with this problem. Horney gradually reached the view that the various forms of masochism and sadism could no longer be considered central concepts. Masochistic phenomena could be better understood dynamically and treated more effectively, writes Kelman, “when viewed in terms of her concepts of pride, self-hate, the should, alienation, and, of course, the solution of self-effacement.” Kelman thus brings into focus the question whether the term or concept of masochism is really a useful or valid one, a conclusion also reached by others on this program. Kelman describes his own attitude in all therapy as nonteleo