(1987). International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 68:389-396 That quality of personality which we call 'charm' has until now escaped psychoanalytic scrutiny. In our clinical work its presence or absence in patients operates largely outside our mutual awareness and often escapes our attention. Yet we know that charm can be the decisive factor for good or ill in a person's life. Its absence may condemn an individual to a life of meagre satisfaction. Its presence may make up for numerous other shortcomings. The clinical section of this paper will present two patients in whom charm was a salient quality of personality which became an important focus of analytic work. Psychoanalytic work can sometimes resemble a difficult journey, a journey beginning in a strange foreign land devoid of markers or road signs, a land which only gradually becomes familiar and intelligible. This analogy depicts something of the movement from unconsciousness to consciousness, from sleeping ignorance to wakeful knowledge which constitutes an important part of [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.] |
