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In his penultimate paper, “Analysis Terminable and Interminable,” Freud (/1958) wrote: “The business of analysis is to secure the best possible conditions for the functioning of the ego; when this has been done, analysis has accomplished its task” (p. 251). Among the essential ego capacities that Freud had in mind was the capacity for observing one's internal processes. The observing ego is both a requirement for psychoanalysis and an achievement that evolves from it. When we speak of the “capacity for observation,” we refer to a conscious activity associated with psychological-mindedness and conceptualized as taking place in the domain of secondary process functioning. But a deeper and more phantasmal level of “observation” stands as the emotional foundation for this higher-level ego capacity. This observation takes places in the realm of phantasy and involves the challenge of observing the primal scene of infancy.
In this paper, I would like to build upon several contributions by Britton (1989, 1995, 1999) by elaborating his ideas concerning the consequences of refusing to accept one's position in relation to the phantasized primal couple. I will suggest that when this position cannot be tolerated, the reactions resonate along the primary emotional links defined by Bion (1962): Love (L), Hate (H), and Knowledge (K). I propose that this refusal takes shape as two different phantasies: one in the realm of L, and the other in the realm of minus K. I will present clinical material to demonstrate the way in which these phantasies result in an impaired capacity for observation and a collapse in imagination. I will also make some preliminary comments regarding their role in the use of the body rather than the mind for articulating unconscious conflict and unconscious gender confusion.
Please Note: A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Spring 2000 Division 39 Conference in San Francisco. I am indebted to Dr. Enid Young for her indispensable co