This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Vanheule, S. Articles by Verhaeghe, P. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Identity through a Psychoanalytic Looking Glass

GHENT UNIVERSITY, Stijn.Vanheule{at}UGent.be

Paul Verhaeghe

GHENT UNIVERSITY, Paul.Verhaeghe{at}UGent.be

This paper examines how "identity" can be conceptualized and how the experience of "oneself" is influenced by the interplay of forces inside the mind and the body. We address three psychoanalytic approaches: Freud's topological views on the mental apparatus; Lacan's theory on the mirror stage, his optical model of the ideals of the subject, and his theory on the object a; and the theory of Fonagy and colleagues on how the self develops and how affect regulation takes place in the context of attachment relationships. We outline similarities and differences in how identity is conceptualized within these perspectives and we discuss clinical implications.

Key Words: attachment • Freud • Lacan • identity • psychoanalysis

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 19, No. 3, 391-411 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354309104160


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?