Psychopathology II

Third Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2023-24, 2nd Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Babak Roshanaei-Moghaddam, MD
Michael Pauly, MD

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February 23, 2024 — Perversion – Sadism and Masochism

Presenter: Babak Roshanaei-Moghaddam, MD

[52 pages]

The last two weeks of this course are dedicated to the exploration of perverse mechanisms, within which sadomasochism resides. While somewhat heavy on the reading, given the difficulty engaging, surviving, and proving helpful to this character type, we hope the time spent is worthwhile.

Sheldon Bach’s chapter, Sadomasochistic Object Relations, is invaluable in terms of working with sado-masochistically organized individuals. The chapter draws on many of the themes described in articles earlier in the course (difficulties in the realms of separation- individuation, developmental trauma, role of aggression, inability to mourn, narcissistic omnipotence, failures of seeing the other as separate, concrete mental processes) to explain the developmental line of perverse relating and guide the treatment approach.

Emmanuel Ghent’s Masochism, Submission, Surrender, provides us with a link between Winnicott’s groundbreaking work from the 60’s and 70’s and the relational theory of Jessica Benjamin in the 2000’s. Ghent posits masochism as a distorted attempt at surrender, which he defines as a universal desire to be wholly known by the other.

Bach, S. (1994) Ch1, “Sadomasochistic Object Relations” in The Language of Perversion and The Language of Love. London: Aronson, pp3-25.

Ghent, E. (1990). Masochism, Submission, Surrender—Masochism as a Perversion of Surrender. Contemp. Psychoanal., 26:108-136.