There is something in this talk that I find profoundly moving. I think it might be because it seems to touch the foundations of human experience. The 'what's it all about' 'who are we' and maybe the 'we're all in this together'. Maybe the thunder and lightening storm outside, your talk of the earthing rod, and your safe quiet considered tone within the room, contributed to the aesthetically pleasing experience. It feels like a demonstration of love that you give us the gifts of these talks, and I hope we manage to convey love back to you. Thank you again.

Seneca could help a lot with self esteem. It put me back on right track…on journey to self discovery. Thank you

9:46 is about what Jung would call the shadow; “the thing we have no wish to be.” The surrender of perfection. Acknowledging “I’m not perfect, other people are not perfect. Everything is a mixture. Good and bad. Imperfections are in us all.” The realisation that we have badness within us and we are not all good. A hard thing to swallow. Jung also says we do not come to consciousness without pain. Victor Frankl says we cannot give light without burning.

At 6:06 when you talk about the purified pleasure ego and eliminating all the parts of badness out as a process to attain a purified pleasure-ego you remind me of what James Grotstein calls bad dialysis in his book A Beam of Intense Darkness (2007). I work in domestic violence and talk about this with my clients concerning helping them understand gaslighting and all the accusations levelled by the dominator in the coercive relationship. I like your five part model and continual emphasis upon narcissism which has really invaluably helped my work! Many thanks, Dave Brighton UK 🇬🇧

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you find it helpful, Dave

I have really learned a lot from your video lectures over the last couple of years, and I have enjoyed your latest book. I am a venezuelan psychologist that is now in Europe because of the crisis, and I am in the long process of revalidating my diploma here. I want to thank you because, while I deliver food with Uber Eats in the bike, I hear your lectures and they make me feel closer to my passion and they give me strength to finish the undergraduate (again) so I can later be an analyst. I am sincerely thankful to you. Also, I think that it could be interesting to talk about the personality structures, specially from a lacanian point of view, and make a comparison with Kenberg's approach.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you and best of luck with your training.

Thank you once again! In my clinical psych program we cover some psychoanalytic theory, but Freud is left behind. I really appreciate that you illuminate the value of Freud. Edit: and the value of Klein as well.

Thank You, Dr Carveth! This is so insightful!

Thank you.

I’ve learnt an incredibly valuable lesson from your video, to sum it up: humility is the best if not only way to self esteem. I needed that reality check, thank you so much.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

You are most welcome

To Understand Self-esteem from Psychodynamic perspective is really amazing Dr. Carveth. Thanks a ton🌻🙏😊

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Most welcome.

Always get the grounding feeling of how much I do not know. Very helpful, interesting and generous videos, Don. Thank you!

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Most welcome

I had a dream last night that I told somebody I loved that I am not the prodigal son, and then you talk about that story here in a video echoing with thunder and lightning. Haha Maybe I'll have to think more about it! Thanks for sharing your wisdom. It was timely for me. :)

Thank you for all the great content. Really great stuff. Learning a lot. By the way with this one you pulled off a sort of Wes Anderson color palette!Kept waiting for something green to pop into the frame and complement all the warm reds and yellows :)

I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say here. The only thing that I think I would add is that I think there are times where the conscience needs to be more sophisticated--or meet up with attunement. In simple day to day interactions it often works well enough to do unto others as we would want done to ourselves, but in closer relationships where relating is more sophisticated, it becomes important to learn about the Other's needs and what feels good to them. So I would extend conscience to the appreciation of difference and the willingness to learn about and adapt to others to a certain degree.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Well, as I define Konshens as operating on the norm of reciprocity, I think such attunement is a part of conscience, since I must attuned to others as I wish them to attuned to me.

❤❤❤❤ I just Adore Assange and Snowden...true Heroes...

A wonderful short lecture with the masoaic becoming clearer in pattern and form with each new video. Thank you for the opportunity to learn from you.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Most welcome

I love your videos. Thank you!

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Hi Don, I just wanted to add something about developing trust in one’s potency. This seems directly related to self esteem. The better an individual can come to harness and recognise the benefit of being potent the more their self esteem will grow. As a result, reality testing increases whilst omnipotence and impotence decreases. I like the idea of trying to find the middle ground between omnipotence and impotence which is being competent. Many thanks Don.

@kerimalpalt

3 жыл бұрын

I think one becomes omnipotent at when he is not competent at all. Maybe a compensation. I think potency is not on a scale but rather direction on a line

@shanesneyd326

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your reply Kerim. Yes I agree about it being compensatory. For instance, the more an individual feels impotent the more omnipotent they become.

Great video Don, I always learn so many interesting new things from you

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad to hear it.

Thanks. This theme based short lecture is truly helpful.

@doncarveth

Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

I really enjoy and also learn from your videos, I'm from Iran...and love psychoanalysis, my Therapist is also an Object Relationist.... I hope that I become too ...in this chaotic wold! But just wanted to thank you and say to you that your voice is the last voice I hear till I fall asleep

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I’m happy you enjoy them.

Great video Dr. Carveth, I wanted to start out saying that I can't get enough of your uploads. I'm an enginneerign student from Milan following an analysis for 5 years now, so as far as pure theory goes I can't say that I understand much, but these lectures are a great way to be exposed to new concepts and ideas, I found Bion's idea of an intermediate object to be eye-opening on ,for example, artistic sculptures. Speaking as a millenial, your videos might gain a great benefit from acquiring a semi-professional microphone, as it would allow you to transmit a greater range of vocal and emotional cues and make the viewing/listening experience all the more pleasurable. Even so, I wanted to thank you for your work, these videos are both rare and incredibly intersting.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I’ve been using a blue snowball microphone. Is that not the kind of semiprofessional microphone you recommend?

@LoveAutopsy

4 жыл бұрын

@@doncarveth most semi-professional microphones cannot be directly connected to your laptop because they cannot be powered by USB only, they require a sound mixing board (basic one is around $100). You can find a pretty good semi-pro microphone on Amazon for about $300-400. It is not too difficult to set it all up, but requires some time and effort. Probably easier to ask someone else to set it up for you.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Denys Koval Thanks

Great video, Don. Thanks for posting. The distinctions you make between the functions of the superego and conscience are incredibly helpful. I’m left wondering, though, about those patients whose own conscience has failed to develop well or has atrophied due to the dehumanizing nature of their early life experience. If the voice of conscience develops out of a reciprocal dialectic of the experience of care and love, what of those individuals whose relational experience with those who were supposed to care for them was perpetually castrating and dehumanizing? It seems to me that the starting point of the work here, as in most cases, is about disempowering the savagery of the superego. That said, the voice of the superego must be replaced with something. My question is: can conscience (in this case, one presumably devoid of the impulse to give reciprocally) be reconstituted and empowered to speak up in order to battle the forces of the murderous introjects inscribed onto the person’s psyche? If so, what might that process look like in the consulting room? I’d be curious to know what you think. Perhaps a future video on this…? Thanks.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Ameliorate, thanks, great question. As a preliminary response, prior to the whole video lecture, let me say that, with Winecott, I believe in the existence, or at least the potential, of a true self, understood as one’s “going-on-being. Where there is life there is hope. Just because inadequate caretaking failed to nourish it does not mean the true self, or at least the potential to develop a true self, does not exist. Clinically, the work the therapeutic dyad performs in dismantling, Or disempowering the sadistic super ego at the same time nourishes the development of conscience. The integrity and caring of the analyst models conscience. A conscientious analyst provides both loving care and a model to emulate. I’m not talking about a simple cure through love, though therapeutic love (agape, caritas) certainly plays an important part.

Thank you

“ All you need is love “ says the Beatles, and someone “ tell me to stop”.

Really good, thanks for this! Do you have any link to the relevant infant research that invalidates primary narcissism? Shallcross?

@doncarveth

Жыл бұрын

Daniel Stern, the interpersonal world of the infant

A very peripheral and theoretical question about the beginning : if you would have to distinguish primary narcissism as conceveid by Freud (1) and the symbiotic stage as conceveid by Klein (2), what would be the one characteristic? Would it be the difference between (1) there's nothing but me (2) there's no clear boundary between me and not-me ? It seems to me in "Malaise..." Freud presents primary narcissism as (2) and he says "Ego" is a by a product of the confrontation with reality. Until now in my lesson i presented the "first stage" of early narcissism exactly as a symbiotic phase. i read Freud's Unbehagen in der Kultur but i'm not a psychoanalystic, i teach philosophy in highschool and i have interest in moral philosophy. By the way your lesson are very helpful on moral philosophy.

@jftierdor4605

4 жыл бұрын

i think i would argue something like this : 1° Freud probably understood that there can't be an Ego if there is not assumption of Non-ego : so he probably have thought that first step is indiffenciation ; 2° But his mistake was that he thought psychosis as merely a regression to that step (I don't know where he said that? in "Malaise" he says love-passion is a regression to that step), althought psychosis is not a really a regression to an early stage, it is a double negation : it's "There is nothing but me", which presuppose a distinction between Ego and Non-ego (first negation : I'm not everything, posing Ego and Non-ego at the same time), but deny or reject it (double negation would be : "Non-ego is not really something that i can't control or that i can't know").

💜

Dear Don - I am wondering if you have ever produced a lecture on Meltzer's theory of The Claustrum? I find it such a complex piece of work, yet also one which seems to ring true for many patients, especially young adults from particular backgrounds. I'd be grateful for any elucidation you can provide.

@doncarveth

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion.

As a trainee psychodynamic psychotherapist who is not very disciplined with reading books and papers I find these videos extremely helpful. Have you considered doing a video on depersonalisation and derealization? I'm interested in whether you consider this a neurotic or psychotic defence.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

re bearing hate directed at therapist: sometimes one should not bear it but inform p that therapy is not a dumping ground and you are not a masochist

Thanks a lot! Very deep and motivating.

Don im a psychology student im interested on theraphy in transference and self psychology. Ive read kohut and his compositors book. Im asking from you to give us a book list so that we can educate ourselves too. This can be on all facets of psychology/theraphy. You are awesome

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

“Freud and beyond” by Steven Michell and Margaret black is a very good overview.

Hi Prof. Carveth. You describe in the video that the rational ego cannot generate values/lights, so retaining the conscience is the only way to have moral function. I’m wondering could the mixture of the Id and the ego generate values?

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Well the rational ego can assist the Ed to realistically achieve gratification of some of its impulses. But we cannot reduce values to impulses since we often see our values as providing reasons to deny certain of our impulses, say to murder.

Stage 1) Symbiotic or Primary Narcissisism = Psychotic State Stage 2) Purified Pleasure Ego or Secondary Narcissism = Delusional State in which one's Not-self is all bad Stage 3) Ambivalence (Freud) Depressive Position (Klein) = Sane. I'm not perfect, others aren't perfect.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Good summary

With self-esteem, how would non-verbal self-attack be conceptualized and would the treatment approach be the same? By non-verbal I mean immediately feeling bad about oneself or an aspect of oneself without an intermediate verbal thought. Is this a result of superego precursors?

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

In the course of analysis many feelings states, psycho somatic symptoms, moods, come to be understood as forms of self attack, that is, manifestations of the sadistic superego.

Readyour other comment: Don Carveth • 1 second ago re bearing hate directed at therapist: sometimes one should not bear it but inform p that therapy is not a dumping ground and you are not a masochis

Unless you are suffering from perceptual hallucinations most mental illness is social in nature. That is why I like Psychoanalysis and therapy.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Most hallucinations are social in nature to, they involve images and voices of others as well as parts of the self.

@judithbreastsler

4 жыл бұрын

@@doncarveth that gives me something to think about. I do like the software-hardware analogy. It seems that if we can become aware of our programming, we can change our mental and emotional experience

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Susan Murray , That’s right. Cause for hope.

@TheRocknrollmaniac

3 жыл бұрын

@Susan Murray this seems like a blatant reduction, this time in favor of the social sphere (Carveth's noosphere). There are many mental disorders that are primarily or at least significantly affected by one's biology. And, even though halluciantions have a social component, doesn't mean that they aren't a sign of a major physiological disturbance.

I was sort of confused after hearing Don equate the ego ideal with what I regard as ideal self. Searching for answers I found this great article Sandler, J., Holder, A., & Meers, D. (1963). The EGO Ideal and the Ideal Self. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 18(1), 139-158. doi:10.1080/00797308.1963.11822927 . In short, I understood that Carveth took ego ideal in its first rendition (1914), but ego ideal is so much more than this (more than what we now regard as ideal self).

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

It is now six decades later, since Sandler at owl wrote that paper. Like Freud, they continue to confuse conscience with superego. They still feel to distinguish the two fundamentally different types of guilt. Their concept of the ideal self is simply a broadening the Floyd’s earlier concept of the ego ideal. They do not realize that when I measure my real ego against my ego ideal or ideal self my mind is entirely on me, not on the other. In other words the ego ideal and ideal self or narcissistic concepts. Conscience is another matter altogether as I explained in my 2013 book and elsewhere.

Am I correct to think that Freud presumed that most parents were eager, loving participants fully capable of tender empathic care of their new offspring?

@doncarveth

5 ай бұрын

No, I think he knew many things can go wrong. He supported free cycle analytic clinics for the poor, presumably, also to help poor mothers and fathers with their caretaking of children.

@kirstinstrand6292

5 ай бұрын

I hesitate to enter more comments, yet, I only want to say that this discussion perplexed me because none of it hit targets of deep understanding or immediate confirmation of emotions and feelings regarding the parent/child relationship that also could include the complex pre oedipal realm. The Levels of Psych. Interpretation and Masochism are relevant to each other. It was as if you described my experiences that I could never have put into words. @@doncarveth I don't see how an infant can bounce from pre oedipal issues to what Freud believed to be near conscious decision making.during early infancy. I think he was 1-2 years early in exploring the concept of good parent/bad parent, or good me/bad me. I was 2ish when I remember my first "situation" with my mother when she did not respond to my expectation from falling on a nail (and realizing that my knee was dribbling blood down my shin.) The first time I saw my own blood, I was expecting a hug not a band aid. This happening put me on notice - so to speak. Was this just me being narcissistic? I have recorded dreams of searching for something for my stomach in infancy - my thumb. Hunger seems to be a primal drive of infants, not whether good is good or not. Freud talks nonsense at times, from my perspective. I certainly wish at moments like this, that I were 30 years younger. Apologies for this intrusion, and I certainly believe Freud needs to be continually studied, because he was more right than not. (I wonder what Dr. Mark Solms will turn up in his upcoming books - his translations of Freud's notes from German into English.)

Thank you! I was just thinking about that: where to find ground for reflective life? How to endure incompleteness (Lacanian incomplete big Other) of life and thinking? I also recently started to read Merleau-Ponty's Ontology (M. C. Dillon). Are you familiar with Ponty's philosophy? I think one could connect super-ego with meta-cognition in a sense that Über means above, over or beyond. Could you think of conscience as über über ich? To find better, higher ground of thinking/meta-cognition about yourself. Interestingly, you cultivate meta-cognition awareness with mindfulness meditation: when you ground yourself (under the ground you find rhizomatic structure, you “dialectize” master-signifiers (Lacanian S1)) in tacit cogito (Merleau-Ponty) and only then you can "ascend" to higher "über" (beyond superego). When you grow like tree, subjected to Idea, you transcend your old ego.

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

If you can restate that in one clear simple straightforward English sentence, you might have a point.

@jankan4027

4 жыл бұрын

@@doncarveth Thank you very much for the reply. I apologize for the jargon. The main idea I wanted to share is that our basic ability to think is to conceptualize things from different perspectives, which is related to social cognition based on recursivity and joint intentionality. I think that the instance of the superego lies in this dimension of meta-cognition (we think what we think and what others think) and that the word über-ich is good precisely because of this " über", beyond super-ego (conscience).

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

But I’m not sure Uber here means above or beyond superego. Uber Ich means over-ego, not over-superego.

@jankan4027

4 жыл бұрын

@@doncarveth This is true. Conscience could be this "over-superego" - this is just an attempt to connect superego and conscience. In this sense it is true that the solution is not the destruction of the superego, but a kind of over-over-ego.

Now you made me curious about your thoughts about social justice warriors and radical feminism. I'm especially curious about how your views differ from the popular Jordan Peterson. Personally i sense a lot of aggression in him as well as in the social justice warriors he is taking about which makes it hard for me to take him seriously. Feels like some kind of hypocrisy. Great lecture as always, Don! Best wishes, Matt

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Matt, my views in this area are not complicated. I believe in the principle of free speech, no matter how offensive, as long as it does not contain any direct inciting to violence or in other ways violate the law. I defend Jordan Peterson‘s right to speak at McMaster University or anywhere for that matter although I disagree with him on the number of grounds. Are you opposed to tell Italianism of any stripe. Unfortunately the totalitarians of the left are on the rise these days. It’s awful and frightening.

“Mania for reproaching”-Heinrich who?

@doncarveth

4 жыл бұрын

Heinrich Racker

I have a copy of a rare doctoral thesis called Loss Of Self Esteem Prior To The Onset Of Depression.

@doncarveth

3 жыл бұрын

Interesting. Can you post or send me a summary?

@kirstinstrand6292

5 ай бұрын

If I could write a dissertation, it would be on the loss of one's identity prior to dementia.​@doncarveth I'm not suggesting that there are no organic reasons for dementia, yet loss of identity is likely prevalent. Just a hunch. 😮

classic face. the face of a screen actor

When one has the first glimpse that they're not omnipotent, there's a sense of shame (central to superego) which provides the impetus for developing an ego ideal, such that one might act some point in the future be something approaching good enough and opposed to shamefully inadequate. The greater the shame the greater the ego ideal to compensate..... BTW... religious scholars have discovered that God's last name isn't damn it !!! (just had to throw that in since you referenced God). Be well.....

its a limiting program. A rev limiter. The Great Filter

Snowden and Assange ? Perhaps not the best of examples...

Very good but leave out politics