Barratt, B.B., Department of Psychology, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
The notion of a boundary as it pertains to psychoanalysis is explored, and the distinctiveness of psychoanalysis as a healing science that is ethical and amoral is discussed. The difference between such a science and psychotherapies, which are committed to ideological ideals of maturation and adaptation, is elucidated. Five characteristics of psychological boundaries are discussed, and the significance of each individual's "encounter" with the incest taboo is elaborated, in terms of the dynamic formation of the repression barrier. In this context, the strict ethicality and moral neutrality of psychoanalytic practice is understood in terms of the emancipative way in which free-associative discourse works and plays along the repression barrier. © 2012 The International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies.
Article; behavior; consciousness; defense mechanism; ethics; healing; human; incest; intimacy; mental health care personnel; morality; motivation; narcissism; patient care; personal space; play; pleasure; priority journal; psychoanalysis; psychoanalytic theory; psychological aspect; psychotherapy; relative; self disclosure; taboo