Dominant Perversions; Perverse Dominance: Eroticized Schemata and Dissociative Phenomena in the Case of Daniel

Abstract

In this paper, I describe my ongoing journey with Daniel, a patient with a severe dissociative disorder. With detailed explorations of major enactments, I illustrate how issues around desire, excitement, and intimacy shape our eroticized transference-countertransference imbrication and compel episodic relational states of deadness and terror. Reflecting on the shifting roles of dominance, submission and states of dissociation, I explicate the powerful effects of spontaneity and self-disclosure in the navigation of seemingly intractable stalemates.

Keywords:

• dissociation
• perversion
• enactment
• erotization
• self-disclosure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shelley Heusser

Shelley Heusser, MAClinPsych, is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also a supervising psychotherapist, and co-founder of the Johannesburg Relational Therapeutic Alliance study group.