The transference PDF

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Summary

Romance languages have their affiliation with Indo-European languages. Those, such as, for example, the Italian, the Portuguese, have links with the Latin verb ferīre, which in Castilian is designated as “hurt”. On the other hand, in the German language, which is part of the Indo-European languages,...

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The transference: between the quantitative and the qualitative of the psychic apparatus Romance languages have their affiliation with Indo-European languages. Those, such as, for example, the Italian, the Portuguese, have links with the Latin verb ferīre, which in Castilian is designated as “hurt”. On the other hand, in the German language, which is part of the Indo-European languages, there are the verbs schlagen, treffen and töten (in their order, “beat”, “hit” and “kill”). These three verbs, being representatives of the verb ferīre, show the relationship between this Latin verb, the verb "wound" typical of the German language. Now, for the present work, it is necessary to address the case of the verb "wound" (from the Latin ferīre), since the following is concentrated in this: the Royal Academy of the Language presents 17 definitions of such a verb. Among them there are 4 items that attract attention: number 8 ("Articulate one or more phonemes"), number 12 ("Impress one of the senses, especially hearing"), number 13 ("Cause an impression on the mood or in some psychic faculty, such as fantasy, attention, etc. ”) and the number 14

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("Move or excite in the mind some passion or feeling, often painful; afflict, torment the mood"). Consequently, such a distinction should be borne in mind with respect to the bipartite verb "transfer", as this further facilitates the understanding of the noun "transfer". The term “transference” (Übertragung) does not emphasize the form, but rather the movement (Kinesis) of the content. And how does this happen? Well, to account in this way, one must start from the bipartite verb: "transfer", since this, being made up of the prefix "trans" and the root "ferir", 2 contributes the idea of taking something 'to the other side 'or' through 'with the result of an affectation, an impression, that is to say, the activity of' leading towards' or 'in the middle of' seeks a stimulus, an emotion, a suffering, a damage, a wound. Therefore, the way in which the transference is presented expresses a movement of feelings, sensations and excitations, which causes a disturbance of the individual's state of mind.

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From the Freudian perspective, if we speak of Übertragung

(transference), it is to allude directly to one of its main clinical discoveries, 3 which is related to psychological processes. According to James Strachey, who is recognized for the translation and editing of Freud's complete works into the English language, clarifies that said author used the word "transfer" (Übertragung) in several senses: among them, for example, is the most used of all, whose function involves "the process of transferring to a contemporary object feelings that the individual originally applied - and continues to apply unconsciously - to a child object" .4 However, the main objective of this work is a "step" before what said editor states: explain the issue of transference as the point of transition between the quantitative aspect and the qualitative aspect of the psychic apparatus. This is in order to show that the issue of transference, from a Freudian “metabiological” dimension, is the articulating axis between both aspects.

This type of transference is expressed as “sensory transference” and its function refers to the movement of amounts of excitement, which is different from the question of the “transfer of feelings”, as it happens between the doctor and his patient. Well, the first type of transference designates a neurophysiological phenomenon, and the second a metapsychological theme. The former involves instinct (the quantitative), and the latter the affect (the qualitative). One is basically linked to the organism, and the other to the psychic-somatic: the drive. However, both aspects of the “transference” have a common characteristic: the displacement that is reflected in the function of nervous excitation5 (Nervenreiz). 2. For Freud, as for Descartes, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, a knowledge of things can only be acquired thanks to the relationships, comparisons and associations that are made between them; because if one thing (X) of these is interconnected with another (Y) of them, then a dependency relationship can be established. This means that “X” – through its condition of possibility, that is, being a magnitude or quantity that is capable of providing “Y” with its singular existence and its own value (predicative and explanatory) - is defined as a function of "Y". Therefore, the function is to transfer values from "X" to "Y". The function of the Nervenreiz, (X), which moves and spreads throughout the afferent (peripheral) nervous system, configures "what is represented", (Y). In this function of the amounts of excitement there are sensory elements: acoustic, kinesthetic and visual that are transferred to consciousness. Consequently, such elements are transformed into sensible qualities. Kinesthesia, which comes from the Greek κίνησις ("movement") and α ἴσθησις ("sensation"), deals with the sensation or perception of movement. However, this movement arises when the gross quantities affect any part of the organism; and then, the sensation, which is produced from such affectation, is transferred to the afferent nervous system, that is, from the periphery of the organism towards the center of the energy receptor neurons.

For its part, the efferent nervous system conducts the amount of excitation from the center of the nervous system to the periphery of the organism, which denotes the tendency to discharge energy through the motor pathway, to innervation: "All our activity Psychic starts from stimuli (internal or external) and ends in innervation. That is why we assign the apparatus a sensory end and a motor end; at the sensory end there is a system that receives perceptions, and at the motor end, another that opens the locks of motility. The psychic process runs, in general, from the extreme of perception towards that of motility ”(Freud, 1900: 530-531). Based on the role carried out by the transfer of exogenous stimuli within the organism: the peripheral nervous system (afferent) and the function of the Nervenreiz or endogenous excitation within the efferent (central) nervous system - the neuronal nucleus - it supports the following operation: the passage from the quantitative to the qualitative of the psyche. In order to explain this operation, Freud's Project of a psychology for neurologists is basically approached as neurophysiological work with a certain metapsychological nuance, but without leaving aside other relevant issues that are typical of the beginning and the middle of the 1890s. Freud's works that are discussed here aim to develop those two aspects: the quantitative and the qualitative as fundamental parts of the subject of transference.

The psychic apparatus and its function At the end of November 1892, Freud formulated the following thesis: “The nervous system strives to keep something that could be called the 'excitation sum' constant within its functional constellations, and it realizes this health condition to the extent that it processes by associative means any sensitive increase in excitement or discharges it by a corresponding motor reaction. " (Freud, 1893a: 190)

Such a formulation will not have many modifications throughout the history of Freudian thought, because for the year 1920 it still had this same axiom: “The mental apparatus strives to keep the amount of excitement as low as possible, or at least constant. present in him ”(Freud, 1920: 8-9). This shows that this author did not change much his theoretical conception about the functioning of what he once called the nervous system, and later the mental apparatus. Well, these two were and are only names or ways of calling the same thing: the psychic apparatus, which does not imply that the content of both modes, as can be deduced from the data mentioned so far, those of the years 1892 and 1920, has varied too much in the course of the time in which Freud produced his theories. For the year 1895, Freud -in his Project of a psychology for neurologists- alludes to the themes of "consciousness" and "memory", which is part of the qualitative aspect and, therefore, serves to outline the path of his "recognized" metapsychology. However, such a Project is traversed by a problem of vital importance, since Freud, from the quantitative point of view, wants to find out how the psychic apparatus works. This questioning stems from observations made by himself in his clinic. Indeed, the clinical observations made by Freud, first, lead him to ask himself specifically about the subject of psychic processes in the field of neuroses, and second, motivate him to focus his responses on the side of the organism, the nervous system (central and peripheral). The psychic apparatus resembles the electronic computer in that it receives, stores, processes and delivers information. In contrast, the psychic apparatus, in addition to perceive, contain, dominate, bind and process, transfer internal and external excitations until they are stabilized, it also has a memory that allows it to correct and feed back the information obtained from the past, the present and its environment, and choose appropriately between various options when you feel compelled to respond immediately to unexpected events, that is, to the "rush of life." Now, the psychic apparatus is a system (Φ, Ψ and ω) based on the perception of endogenous excitations (endogenen Reizen) and exogenous stimuli (Außenreizen), which designates its quantitative aspect. So it is necessary

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to highlight the relationship of this aspect with the functioning of that apparatus, since from this neurophysiological perspective, as a field of "natural science", the key to the metabiological development of the psychic apparatus is established, where what prevails is the transference of inter and intraneuronal quantities. At the beginning, Freud may have concerns regarding the nature of neuronal movement, but what he is clear about with his Project is “to provide a psychology of natural science, that is, to present psychic processes as quantitatively commanded states of verifiable material parts , and do it in such a way that these processes become intuitive and free from contradiction ”(Freud, 1895a: 339). There are two core points that govern that purpose and that it is necessary to keep them in mind in order to advance in this work: these are the themes of movement and matter. Although the first topic designates the quantitative conception: the state of rest of a quantity, and the second supposes a property of neurons: sensitivity, it cannot be ignored that Freud, based on these topics, wishes to investigate internal movement of the psychic apparatus and by how, through this neuronal movement, said apparatus is related to its environment and to the material world. The first core point carries the law of neuronal inertia. This law designates biological conceptualization, that is, it is an active mechanism in living beings that is established as something invariable and rigid, where said beings always go in the same direction. This means that matter, being governed by inertia and organic development, at no time can return to a previous state, as it is constantly evolving. That law of motion is closely related to the issue of the "Q", since this law "states that neurons seek to relieve themselves of quantity" (Freud, 1895a: 340) by means of the discharge mechanism; and that Q as energy of the nervous system is susceptible to increase, decrease, substitution, conversion, displacement, transfer and discharge. Therefore, Q has the flowing motion of neural quantities as a principle. This is precisely what Freud calls

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as a principle of constancy, 6 insofar as its tendency is the stabilization of the psychic apparatus. The psychic apparatus includes the principle of constancy. Said principle subsumes an "eagerness" to discharge that is inherent in every nervous system, since it represents the tendency to maintain constant the stability of the amounts of excitation of the nervous system. But what is it that makes eagerness key or has primacy within the functioning of the nervous system? In the first instance, this means that the desire of the mental apparatus designates the quantitative point of view. Indeed, the desire is only to correspond with the requirement of such an apparatus: to save as much energy as possible, to avoid the struggle between internal excitations and external stimuli, between the "I" and its environment. In short, the psychic apparatus, which is supported by the original desire: that which is properly the nervous system, “If a human being experiences a psychic impression, something that for the moment we will call the 'excitement sum' increases in his nervous system. Now, in every individual, for the preservation of their health, there is the desire to again dwarf that amount of excitement. " (Freud, 1893b: 37)

Endogenous and exogenous quantities The energy, (Q) –which comes from the external world, from the “moving images” - is called “exogenous stimulus” (Freud, 1895b: 112). This stimulus is a force that acts periodically, with a certain duration; it is momentary, since it "operates in one fell swoop" (Freud, 1915: 114); in addition, it governs organic life. In fact, such a stimulus directly affects the organism, since its main characteristic is cellular excitability, that is, it needs physical contact and an adequate action for its discharge. Instead, the energy of the inner world, which has strong links with the "memory images" in

both Bedeutung (first referent), is stated as "endogenous excitation", (Qἠ). This type of force, which Freud began to mention widely in 1905, is what by the time of 1915 was theoretically concretized under the name of "drive." What differentiates this force from that other is its constant character and its functional modality within the neural system. Thus, both forces: the organic and the neuronal, from the functional point of view, are not the same: the first force operates by intervals, periods of time; and the second which represents the Nervenreiz (nervous excitement) - works repeatedly. However, the nature of the Reiz (arousal) is what is preserved in both classifications. The Q has two states: on the one hand, the mobile state. This is a state where Q travels through a neuron or passes from one of them to another, that is, the inter and intraneuronal flow is constant; and on the other, the bound state. This state is represented by “Qἠ ” and is derived from the previous Q. The Qἠ designates a particular case, since it is less motor and more sensitive than the first Q in that it does not travel or pass, but instead invests a neuron through of the transfer of excitation quantities (Reiz). The action of investing a neuron originates from internal excitations, that is, the nervous system is affected by forms of endogenous excitation, by bodily elements. The product of such action has an inhibitory character, which means that the original tendency to inertia is resigned, that is, the flowing state of Q is modified to the point of making it static within the same neuron. Thus, this influence, being linked to a Q that comes from the interior, of the cellular organism, allows the neuron to be filled with a certain amount of energy. Therefore, the neuron, through the transfer of energy or quantities, becomes over-clothed or overexcited and does not immediately reach its total discharge: the zero level. There always remains a part of the quantity as a constant force that needs to be discharged. This is precisely the case for the endogenous quantity, Qἠ. For its part, the case of the exogenous stimulus has as its main characteristic: being an autonomous process that occurs exclusively within the organism, whose interest lies in always looking for the specific action or adequate adaptation, until it is achieved by motor means. In fact, that is the goal of such a stimulus: to reduce and exhaust the quantities to zero. For example, these types of stimuli are associated with the needs of the organism: hunger, thirst, respiration, sexual object, among others;

and from which the organism itself cannot detach itself. Indeed, the organism cannot postpone the discharge process, since it is necessary to comply with those physiological actions. The second core point, that of matter, is directly connected with the theory of neurons, since Freud considers the "Q" as something material. In this second point, that theory is combined with the case of the "Qἠ ", which indicates that this endogenous quantity is energy retainer and does not easily adapt to the conditions of the inner world, of the living organism, since the urgency of life it has a high level of demand to the point of making it resign the tendency of neural inertia: to reach zero. Although within the system of neurons, these are morphologically identical, their function is different, since some have as their primary characteristic being motor, and others being sensitive. This does not mean that the motor vehicles are not sensitive, and vice versa. In other words, the question is not that neurons are distinguished by their shape, but by their function: some differ by their mobility, and others by their sensitivity. Mobility and sensitivity are two functions of neurons; however, discharge is the main function of the neural system as such. But what happens when that main function does not occur? Well, this system has as a secondary function a marked tendency to flee from pain. However, on the one hand, when there is a minimum external Q that continuously and directly affects the neural system Φ (Fi); and on the other hand, when an accumulation of Q is manifested in the neuronal system Ψ (Psi), then pain occurs. Pain implies a failure of the neuronal system, since it, by specifically attacking the Φ and los systems, the passing and the impassable, bursts with large Q, gross amounts, on the sensory organs and the normal course of the nervous system. Here the tension is so high that the pain Q's are transferred through all conduction pathways without any hindrance. Therefore, “pain sets both the Φ and the Ψ systems in motion, for him there is no impediment to driving; it is the most imperious of all processes ”(Freud, 1895a: 351). The Φ system is a group of neurons where exogenous stimuli (Q) are collected, and the Ψ system where endogenous excitations (Qἠ ) are collected, that is, where

internal tensions are released. But what is the third system of neurons: the ω (omega)? This system designates the neurons that fulfill the function of being organs of perception. Large amounts of energy come from the outside world. In this there are gross masses and Qs that are in motion. However, by means of the organs of perception, small segments of these masses and quantities are filtered. This is produced from the system Ψ as it receives and stores Q from neurons Φ, that is, these neurons, which are related to the external periphery of the organism, are in charge of collecting stimuli from the outside world; then, these stimuli are stored in the set of neurons Ψ, to the neurons that are within the psychic apparatus. Thus, indirectly, it is how the system Ψ has a connection with the outside world. Therefore, this neural connection Ψ, which facilitates the transfer of small amounts of energy to the system ω, makes it possible to create conscious sensations to the point of granting qualities to the different fragments of said world. This process, which involves the qualitative aspect, occurs by virtue of the perception made by the sensory organs.

Sensory transfer and the period The transfer of amounts of excitation, in particular terms, occurs from one neuron to another or within themselves; in general terms, it occurs between the “Φ”, “Ψ” and “ω” systems or within them. But that is not enough for the psychic apparatus to fully fulfill its function, since it also has a “temporary nature” which Freud calls “period” .7 Therefore, “it is enough for us that it has established a sequence fixed between them [Φ, Ψ and ω], that is to say, that as a result of certain psychic ...