On the need to be beguiled

Abstract

This paper presents the view that the “need to be beguiled” is a fundamental experiential dimension immanent within the drive organization of the human psyche. It is argued that, as an expression of the “feminine,” inherent in the constitutional bisexuality of the psyche, this need makes itself felt from the very beginning of any mother–infant interaction. It seems to function as a sine qua non element for the establishment of early object relationships and for the reception and incorporation of perceptual and psychic stimuli arriving from without. Developmentally, this need finds expression in a variety of relational manifestations, that is, creative acceptance, receptivity, and surrender at one end of the spectrum, all the way to abusive masochism at the other. The position and vicissitudes of this dynamic within the psychoanalytic condition are examined with some thoroughness.

Key words:

• being beguiled
• surrendering
• submitting
• being hypnotized

Notes

1 Heidegger writes: “By being thrown, Being-There (Dasein) cannot ever command its own in-depth existence. This negation belongs to the existential meaning of ‘being thrown’” (Heidegger, 2006, p. 284).

2 Heidegger writes: “Being involved in the ‘letting go (Gelassenheit)’ within a surrounding condition, we wish the non-wishing  …  Letting go is to be involved with Being” (Heidegger, 1992, p. 57).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christo Joannidis

Author

Christo Joannidis is a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst, and a full member of both the British and the Hellenic Psychoanalytical Societies, and the Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists. He has worked for many years as honorary senior lecturer at the University Psychiatric Clinic of Athens University, and for about 10 years as consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, UK. He is currently in full-time private practice in Athens, while being heavily involved in the training program provided by the Hellenic Psychoanalytical Society.