(1959). Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 7:274-283 In this communication I propose to re-examine the role that humiliation plays in masochism in light of the subsequent development of ideas I had previously presented (3). According to Freud, all human beings try to achieve pleasure and to avoid unpleasure. We are in agreement with those analysts who do not regard the achievement of pleasure as being identical with the avoidance of unpleasure and who do not think that the loss of pleasure automatically produces unpleasure. Instead we assume that human beings may eliminate unpleasure and experience what this author refers to as "instinctual gratification" without having the emotion of pleasure (2). The emotion of pleasure appears to accompany instinctual gratification only if the object and the methods of discharging the tension are pleasing to the total personality. We have the impression that pleasure and unpleasure can be referred to as emotional signals indicating the reaction of the total personality or perhaps only of th [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
