Episode 4: “Two souls alas! are dwelling in my breast”—Psychic Conflicts

Lives of the Unconscious

Summary: "Should I really do it—or should I rather not?" In many situations, we are at odds with ourselves, want to have our cake and eat it too, or are two minds—or even more?—about something. Conflicts determine our coexistence with other people, but also our inner mental life. The subject of this episode is: why conflicts are the key to understanding psychological suffering, but also to psychological development.

Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org

Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Donation via Paypal

Literature Recommendations:

• Freud, S. (1930/2002): Civilization and Its Discontents. London: Penguin.
• Christian, C., Eagle, M.N., Wolitzky D.L. (2015). Psychoanalytic Perspec-tives on Conflict: A Critical Reassessment. London: Routledge.
• Cierpka M., Grande T., Rudolf G., von der Tann M., Stasch M. (2007): The Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics System: Clinical Rele-vance, Reliability and Validity. Psychopathology, 40, 209–220
• Dunn J. (1993): Psychic conflict and the external world in Freud's theory of the instinctual drives in light of his adherence to Darwin. Int J Psycho-anal., 74 (2), 231-40.
• Erikson, E.H. (1959/1994). Identity and the Life Cycle. New York (NY): Norton & Company
• Lemma, A. (2015). Introduction to the Practice of Psychoanalytic Psycho-therapy. Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell.
• Levine, D.A. (2017). Psychoanalysis, Society, and the Inner World: Em-bedded Meaning in Politics and Social Conflict. London: Routledge.
• Meltzer, D., Williams, M.H. (2018). The Apprehension of Beauty: The Role of Aesthetic Conflict in Development, Art and Violence. London: Karnac.
• Papiasvili, E.D. (1995). Conflict in psychoanalysis and in life, International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 4:4, 215-221