Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

DISCUSSION: Dr. Max Schur questioned whether physiological research could be utilized for validation of our concepts, which were gained mainly through reconstructive analysis. However, he thought that the findings presented here did lead to a better understanding of psychoanalytic instinct theory. He related the oxytocin hypothalamic pituitary complex to one of the many mysterious somatic sources of instinctual drives which Freud had in mind. He thought it would be

interesting to know if oxytocin is present in measurable amounts before the onset of puberty and absent after menopause. Dr. Heiman's postulations should help us to understand how highly narcissistic women with very intense oral incorporative wishes experience vaginal orgasm. Dr. Schur thought that the facts presented were an additional reason to abandon the equations: masculine=active, feminine=passive.

Dr. Charles Fisher spoke about his work with oxytocin in Dr. Ranson's laboratory twenty-five years ago. He described the neurophysiological substratum through which psychic forces and unconscious conflict can influence the secretion of oxytocin and bring about disturbances in uterine contraction, sperm transport, milk ejection, and even in the female sexual response. In commenting on Masters' work, Dr. Fisher found most remarkable the conclusion that clitoral masturbation produces vaginal orgasm and that there is no sign of orgasm in the clitoris. He wondered if this would necessitate some revision in the psychoanalytic concept of the clitoris.

Dr. Judith Kestenberg noted that as analysts we have little opportunity to explore the behavior of normals. She emphasized the difference between the fusion experience in the sexual act and the symbiotic oneness of the infant with the feeding mother. Similarly, one must differentiate between sucking and the vaginal-uterine intake of semen. She stressed the need for interdisciplinary correlation to validate or invalidate psychoanalytic concepts which ar