How can psychoanalysis help us understand ourselves and the world we live in?

It’s been almost 100 years since Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) published Discontent in culture (1930), one of the essays that has had the most impact on contemporary thought .

In his writings, the late neurologist and considered the father of psychoanalysis looks at the conflicts that arise between individuals and the societies in which they operate a bond that has intense effects both individually and collectively.

Like other of his most notable works, such as, for example, Three essays on sexual theory (1905)—, Discontent in culture laid certain foundations which will then be deepened by other authors, such as Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion .

To explore this area further, from Chilean Psychoanalytic Association (APCh) organized a cycle of Psychoanalysis and society so that interested parties can approach the procedures of the aforementioned specialists.

This will start in April and end in November 2024, while Freud, Klein and Bion will be part of the program of content.

Although the cycle is aimed at professionals in health and social sciences, this is not an obligation. Anyone interested in these topics can register .

Despite the decades that have passed since the publication of Discontent in culturethe essay and its subsequent interpretations remain valid as tools to think about and decipher certain phenomena occurring today .

Furthermore, in a society where aspects such as social networks, digital interconnectivity and immediacy predominate, which lead us to rethink how interactions take place and, of course, what is happening in the inner world of each individual .

In conversation with La Tercera, the psychoanalyst and regular member of the APCh, Francisco O’Ryan, who will also be one of the teachers of the cycle, delves into certain points what the seminars will cover.

The essence of the article is conflict. He says there is a conflict that, by the way, is very current in today’s culture. . It involves individual desires and motivations and what social life is.

Maintains that The culture itself implies the renunciation of the full satisfaction of all the desires we have and that this renunciation generates many things: suffering, anguish, anger, guilt. etc.

In essence, it’s talking about something he already saw at that time and that is greatly exacerbated in modern culture, which some define as a more narcissistic culture .

There is the idea that If you want something, you have to have it loud and fast, and everything technology allows you to have these types of fantasies .

This thing is that if I don’t know something, I put Google and then It’s like thinking that there really isn’t anything I don’t know or any concern I should give up. I don’t need to recognize my limits my limits.

Of course, this is a summary, but your article talks a lot about This generates part of the relationship between people and culture, and it is something that even determines social phenomena. .

That is to say, When you are in a situation where you collectively experience feelings of being excessively deprived or limited, violent responses and mass phenomena occur. .

Thus Freud warns that We tend to want to satisfy our desires and not have to give up what we want. And that each waiver requires processing which is a difficult process.

By definition, Culture, environment, norms, rules and education act as brakes on this kind of illusion that anything can be done. . This awakens conflicts and many social phenomena that we observe.

Eventually, Culture shows us that we are neither omnipotent nor all-powerful .

What he thought perfectly we can use it to understand what is happening here.

Social networks allow me to generate a feeling of immediacy, that is to say that I have what I want, I know it or I discover it without waiting. with just the press of a button.

This story of not having a postponement It is a very primary, very infantile desire, which is domesticated over the course of life. .

But networks and technological phenomena allow, in one way or another, An illusion that they can bypasses boundaries .

Bypasses the fact that we are beings constantly confronted with exclusion, because They give the feeling that we are everywhere, that we are connected, that we are here, next door, in the United States or elsewhere. .

For example, if they say such a thing is happening in Argentina, We connect and it’s like we’re already there . So we are not left out, we are not excluded, we are everywhere and there are no limits.

However, it happens illusorily .

Just because we are communicating doesn’t mean we know or are there. Communicating is not the same as knowing, it is the same as being informed . And just because we see what’s happening in the neighboring country doesn’t mean we’re there.

However, Networks allow us to have this illusion. This is called the narcissistic world .

Then suddenly As a culture, we are faced with situations that clearly show us that there are differences, that there are limits, that there are exclusions. .

And over there, The breaking of this all-powerful illusion is what often awakens the most violent aspects. in societies.

One of the central goals of psychoanalysis is always power approach and try to deal with these more omnipotent aspects, because they are complex for culture, but they are also processes in individual life because they ultimately generate difficult times and very difficult relationships.

The more we are communicated on social networks, The more we lack an intimate life, real, face-to-face relationships, where we know the other, the other knows us and we communicate with affection. .

It is more complex, because The factors involved in conflicts between countries are numerous. Especially socio-political, power, cultural and economic . The aspects are numerous and go beyond the purely psychological or psychoanalytic framework.

Freud saw it too because he lived during the First World War.

The destructiveness observed in different wars reflects an aspect of the population . Psychoanalysis suggests that it is inherent to human beings .

In other words, it presents in its essence destructive aspects which If the cultural, social conditions and the points I mentioned, etc. occur, they can lead to situations as tragic as wars. which have always existed.

An aspect addressed by psychoanalysis is also being able to make our most destructive aspects more visible and more aware, because when we are more aware of them and can manage them, we can prevent them from becoming what we call actions. that is, they become facts.

It is very different to dream that I am fighting with my neighbor than to go to the next house and fight with him. .

This is what psychoanalysis also allows in a certain way, which It is a process of mentalization that leads to being able to manage these instinctive aspects, including the destructive aspects, to be able to take them into a more creative area and not act immediately. destructive.

One of the characteristics of our company is that it is very dynamic and focused on achievements and tasks. This generally leaves little room for reflection. In the world of work and in the world of speed, violence breaks out in action, when we lose the capacity to think. .

They appear small and This is precisely the problem, because this world that you describe is a narcissistic world or what we call maniform or maniacal, which revolves around triumph, success, victory over the other. not around guilt.

Because? Because Guilt arises when I care about the other. And so, when I realize that if I have done something harmful, it hurts me to have done it, I feel responsible and I might even want to make amends. . This is where we would like to get to.

Guilt is a very complicated subject, but When we reach the possibility of repair, we leave this more destructive environment and find ourselves in an environment closer to the creative. .

Psychoanalysis also talks about it a lot, because It speaks not only about the problem, but also about where we are going, where we can go for a more satisfying and less destructive life. .

This means going through recognize and look at our limits, accept our faults, but also discover that there is a possibility of repair with the others.

This is a very sensitive subject on which a psychoanalyst from our association, Ricardo Capponi, wrote. who is no longer with us.

He looked at the need for repair in societies. He talked about everything that happened during the dictatorship. It’s fundamental .

Afterwards, fault and repair are also in other areas .

Precisely, when we ask ourselves what psychoanalysis can bring, it is that If we can be in a more reflective state, more stopped, less accelerated or less faced with facts, we can move a little from a more destructive and narcissistic environment to a more social environment. more shared, which considers the other more.

in which we can live more in good intimacy and not in a world of friends and enemies .

You can register and request more information about the APCh cycle by writing to the email apch.extension@gmail.com .