Attachment and ownership in psychodynamic psychotherapies

Authors

  • Sebastião Elyseu Jr PUC-Campinas
  • Elisa Medici Pizão Yoshida PUC-Campinas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v11i1.5220

Keywords:

transference, patterns of attachment, psychological ownership.

Abstract

The objective of this article has been to demonstrate how patterns of attachment and of ownership appear in the transferential communication of patients in psychodynamic psychotherapies and how they can guide the therapist’s interventions. It is proposed that ownership should be understood complementarily to John Bowlby’s theory of attachment. The theoretical rationales of attachment and ownership are presented along with some limits and specificities of each construct. Regarding specifically the ownership experience, it is proposed that it can be related to different ownership figures such as people, pets and/or things. It is also proposed that the ownership experience is expressed according to recurrent psychological patterns, designed according to the associated predominant feelings. Based on clinical experience, the following patterns were identified: pattern of secure ownership, of anxious ownership, of jealous ownership and of reactive ownership. Excerpts from different patients’ psychotherapeutic sessions are offered to illustrate how these concepts can be handled by a therapist in his or her interventions, and also to exemplify possible developments in the patient’s ongoing process of working through his conflicts.

Keywords: transference; patterns of attachment; psychological ownership.

 

Author Biographies

Sebastião Elyseu Jr, PUC-Campinas

Professor de Teorias Psicanalíticas I e II e Supervisor de Estágio Supervisionado em Psicologia da Saúde/Clínica II da Faculdade de Psicologia.

Elisa Medici Pizão Yoshida, PUC-Campinas

Professora de Estágio Supervisionado em Psicologia da Saúde/Clínica II da Faculdade de Psicologia e Orientadora do Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia: Profissão e Ciência.

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Published

2007-11-30

How to Cite

Elyseu Jr, S., & Yoshida, E. M. P. (2007). Attachment and ownership in psychodynamic psychotherapies. Interação Em Psicologia, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v11i1.5220

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2007)

Section

Articles

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