Qualities of Early Subjective Experiences: A commentary on three papers presented at the 13th Nordic Psychoanalytical Congress, Reykjavik, July 1992

The three papers to be discussed have certain features in common. They take a developmental view as their point of departure, referring to the period of life prior to representation by means of symbols and language. Secondly, they are concerned with qualities of subjective experience: Sa-lonen focusses on primary identification as the foundation of an experience of meaningfulness and a feeling of being alive, Vaukoncn addresses early sensory impressions which provide an experience of vitality constituting an affective core for the subsequent development, while Ikonen and Rechardt elucidate the fundamental and self-effacing experience of shame occurring when the child does not receive the expected feeling of mutuality from the object. Thirdly, all address the polarity between traumatic experiences and fantasy, a distinction at the very core of psychoanalytic theory. Finally, they urge a discussion of the economic point of view. Is that part of psychoanalytic theory, which understands psychological phenomena in terms of psychic energies and quantities, still relevant? Thus, the three papers touch on problems of central importance to the continuing development of psychoanalytic theory and clinical application. In what follows, I shall comment on each paper separately. In the end I shall return to some of the principle problems raised above.