Screen reconstructions: traumatic memory, conviction, and the problem of verification. 1998

M I Good
Harvard Medical School, USA.

Just as formerly recalled screen memories may be remembered again in the course of psychoanalysis, so new screen phenomena can arise during the treatment process. This paper attempts to relate the process of reconstruction and the occurrence of a type of screening. It is proposed that, under certain circumstances, psychoanalysis can result in a mutually determined screen construction that both patient and analyst consider convincing and valid but which may, for the most part, actually be untrue as a result of the screen function. Screen memories arising during the reconstructive process resemble the déjà vu and déjà raconté situation in that the experience is felt with certainty to have actually occurred previously, although a degree of doubt about its having happened can consciously or unconsciously coincide. Factors contributing to the formation of screen constructions include regressive aspects of the analytic situation; superego elements and the experience of an injunction to remember; the wish to witness what took place in the past; direct or indirect suggestive influence by the analyst; a defensive identification with the analyst; and the analyst's theoretical orientation to reconstruction. Like a screen memory having some veridical content yet serving a masking function, a screen construction can have elements of truth. At the same time such constructions may function as a strong resistance of compromise against intense erotic, sadomasochistic, or narcissistic themes in the transference/counter-transference that were painful or conflictual in the past. If screen constructions are assumed to be historically real or valid, they may not be analyzed for their transferential screening role. A previously published case involving a presumably repressed memory of sexual molestation is considered from the perspective of the possible development of a screen reconstruction. Clinical and scientific aspects of seeking extra-analytic confirmation or falsification of reconstructions are discussed.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008016 Life Change Events Those occurrences, including social, psychological, and environmental, which require an adjustment or effect a change in an individual's pattern of living. Life Course,Life Crises,Life Crisis,Life Experiences,Course, Life,Crisis, Life,Event, Life Change,Experience, Life,Life Change Event,Life Courses,Life Experience
D008297 Male Males
D010817 Physician-Patient Relations The interactions between physician and patient. Doctor-Patient Relations,Doctor Patient Relations,Physician Patient Relations,Physician Patient Relationship,Doctor Patient Relation,Doctor-Patient Relation,Physician Patient Relation,Physician Patient Relationships,Physician-Patient Relation,Relation, Doctor Patient,Relation, Doctor-Patient,Relation, Physician Patient,Relation, Physician-Patient,Relations, Doctor Patient,Relations, Doctor-Patient,Relations, Physician Patient,Relations, Physician-Patient,Relationship, Physician Patient,Relationships, Physician Patient
D011573 Psychoanalytic Interpretation Utilization of Freudian theories to explain various psychologic aspects of art, literature, biographical material, etc. Interpretation, Psychoanalytic,Psychoanalytical Interpretation,Interpretation, Psychoanalytical,Interpretations, Psychoanalytic,Interpretations, Psychoanalytical,Psychoanalytic Interpretations,Psychoanalytical Interpretations
D011574 Psychoanalytic Theory Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior. Oral Character,Psychoanalytical Theory,Theory, Psychoanalytic,Character, Oral,Characters, Oral,Oral Characters,Psychoanalytic Theories,Psychoanalytical Theories,Theories, Psychoanalytic,Theories, Psychoanalytical,Theory, Psychoanalytical
D011575 Psychoanalytic Therapy A form of psychiatric treatment, based on Freudian principles, which seeks to eliminate or diminish the undesirable effects of unconscious conflicts by making the patient aware of their existence, origin, and inappropriate expression in current emotions and behavior. Balint Psychoanalytic Therapy,Psychoanalytic Therapy, Balint,Psychoanalytical Therapy,Therapy, Balint Psychoanalytic,Therapy, Psychoanalytic,Psychoanalytic Therapies,Psychoanalytical Therapies,Therapies, Psychoanalytic,Therapies, Psychoanalytical,Therapy, Psychoanalytical
D011939 Mental Recall The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited. Recall, Mental
D012043 Regression, Psychology A return to earlier, especially to infantile, patterns of thought or behavior, or stage of functioning, e.g., feelings of helplessness and dependency in a patient with a serious physical illness. (From APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994). Psychological Regression,Regression (Psychology),Psychology Regression
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D003674 Defense Mechanisms Unconscious process used by an individual or a group of individuals in order to cope with impulses, feelings or ideas which are not acceptable at their conscious level; various types include reaction formation, projection and self reversal. Mechanisms, Defense

Related Publications

M I Good
November 1973, Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic,
M I Good
November 1983, Archives of general psychiatry,
M I Good
May 1982, International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics,
M I Good
January 1994, Fortschritte der Kiefer- und Gesichts-Chirurgie,
M I Good
January 1984, Plucne bolesti : casopis Udruzenja pneumoftiziologa Jugoslavije = the journal of Yugoslav Association of Phthisiology and Pneumology,
M I Good
August 1974, Science (New York, N.Y.),
M I Good
October 2012, The International journal of psycho-analysis,
M I Good
January 1953, Revista de psicoanalisis,
M I Good
October 1966, The Journal of nervous and mental disease,
Copied contents to your clipboard!