On Psychical Structures and Psychopathology, Rodrigo Gomez M.P.P. | Saturday, November 24, 2018

Scientific Meeting | Saturday, November 24, 2018  | Venue: Arbutus Club
2001 Nanton Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.

In his book Normal and Pathological Personality (1974), the French psychoanalyst Jean Bergeret revisits the concept of personality “Structure”. Following Freud’s and Anzieu’s ideas, among others, structure refers to a permanent organization of the psyche, from which all normal and pathological function is produced. This presentation will review Bergeret’s ideas regarding the stages of ego organization and the three major ways in which structures can potentially be organized: a Psychotic structural line, a Neurotic structural line, and a third conditioning or borderline state which he calls “A-structures” that correspond with what has been identified by other authors as pre-oedipal organizations, “as if” personalities, perversions, and more currently personality disorders.

Due to the enormous value of these considerations for a deeper and more accurate comprehension of psychopathology, this presentation will also describe Bergeret’s proposed classification of the different structures based on 4 diagnostic elements:

1) Nature of the latent anxiety.
2) Mode of object relations.
3) Principal defense mechanisms.
4) Habitual mode of symptom’s expression.

Reference to 3 fictional movie characters will illustrate each one of the structural lines: “Fight Club” (1999) David Fincher, Canada, “The Machinist” (2004) Brad Anderson, USA, A Beautiful Mind” (2001) Ron Howard, USA.

The second part of this presentation will review clinical material from one case in my practice aiming at clarifying the theoretical concepts previously presented.

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Rodrigo Gomez M.P.P. is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist trained in Mexico City. Since 2001 he has provided psychoanalytic therapy for hundreds of groups and individuals in community clinics, correctional institutions for youths, and in private practice. He has also taught undergraduate and postgraduate clinical courses in the Psychology department of the Intercontinental University located in Mexico City, and has presented at international psychoanalytic congresses in Mexico and Canada. On moving to Canada in 2008, Rodrigo Gomez worked for the next 5 years with people with addictions in Vancouver’s East Side. Now he works for Vancouver Coastal Health with concurrent disorders in the north shore, Bella Bella and Bella Coola, and has a private practice with adults, couples and families in Burnaby. For the past 10 years he has been an active member of the Western Canada Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association and is a guest of the Western Branch Canadian Psychoanalytic Society.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this program/session/event participants will be able to:

1. Describe Bergeret’s ideas about psychical structures (1974) and their significance for an enhanced comprehension of psychopathology.
2. Understand the difference between the organization of a structural line and pathological function or “decompensation”.
3. Describe the three structural lines along which personalities can be organized and the metapsychological concepts characteristic of each.

 

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Karin Holland Biggs, Ph.D., FIPA. (Chair),  Elizabeth Wallace, MD, FIPA.
For further information please contact Program Chair: Karin Holland Biggs – khbiggs@telus.net