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ABSTRACT
Borders are present in each form of human activity. Probably the most common representation of border is the separation, yet borders are implied in many operations enabling development, action, thinking, sense-making and relation-making. In this work, borders are considered as dynamic semiotic devices enabling many functions relevant for each living organism and psychic systems as well. Taking into account several border-focused models from psychoanalysis, psychology and semiotics, the author identifies and discusses eight operations carried out by borders: Distinction, Differentiation, Separation, Containment, Protection, Mediation, Transformation and Regulation. Each function is not mutually exclusive but it is recursive in time and works respect to intra/inter-subjective contextual conditions. The meta-model offers relevant developments for the study of psychological processes in dynamic, topological and systemic terms.
ABSTRAKT
Grenzen sind in jeder Form menschlichen Handelns vorhanden. Die wahrscheinlich gebräuchlichste Darstellung von Grenze ist die Trennung, doch werden Grenzen in vielen Operationen impliziert, die Entwicklung, Handeln, Denken, Sinnstiftung und Beziehungsherstellung ermöglichen. In dieser Arbeit werden Grenzen als dynamische semiotische Instrumente betrachtet, die viele Funktionen ermöglichen, die für jeden lebenden Organismus und auch psychische Systeme relevant sind. Unter Berücksichtigung mehrerer grenzfokussierter Modelle aus Psychoanalyse, Psychologie und Semiotik identifiziert und diskutiert der Autor acht Operationen, die von Grenzen ausgeführt werden: Unterscheidung, Differenzierung, Trennung, Eindämmung, Schutz, Vermittlung, Transformation und Regulierung. Jede Funktion schließt sich nicht gegenseitig aus, sondern ist zeitlich rekursiv und arbeitet unter Berücksichtigung intra-/intersubjektiver Kontextbedingungen. Das Metamodell bietet relevante Entwicklungen für die Untersuchung psychologischer Prozesse in dynamischer, topologischer und systemischer Hinsicht.
Resumen
Las fronteras están presentes en cada forma de actividad humana. Probablemente la representación más común de la frontera es la separación, sin embargo, las fronteras están implícitas en muchas operaciones que permiten el desarrollo, la acción, el pensamiento, la creación de sentido y la creación de relaciones. En este trabajo, las fronteras se consideran como dispositivos semióticos dinámicos que permiten muchas funciones relevantes para cada organismo vivo y sistemas psíquicos también. Teniendo en cuenta varios modelos centrados en la frontera del psicoanálisis, la psicología y la semiótica, el autor identifica y discute ocho operaciones realizadas por fronteras: Distinción, diferenciación, separación, contención, protección, mediación, transformación y regulación. Cada función no es mutuamente excluyente, pero es recursiva en el tiempo y funciona respetando las condiciones contextuales intra/intersubjetivas. El meta-modelo ofrece desarrollos relevantes para el estudio de los procesos psicológicos en términos dinámicos, topológicos y sistémicos.
RIASSUNTO
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ABSTRAIT
On trouve des limites dans toutes les formes d’activité humaine. La représentation la plus courante de la limite est probablement celle de la séparation, pourtant les limites sont inhérentes à beaucoup d’opérations permettant le développement, l’action, la pensée, la compréhension du sens, et la construction des relations. Dans cet article, les limites sont appréhendées en tant que dispositifs sémiotiques dynamiques facilitant nombre de fonctions utiles à chaque organisme vivant ainsi qu’à chaque système psychique. En prenant en compte plusieurs modèles qui se centrent sur la limite tirés de la psychanalyse, de la psychologie et de la sémiotique, l’auteur identifie et discute huit opérations que réalisent les limites: Distinction, Différentiation, Séparation, Contention, Protection, Médiation, Transformation et Régulation. Chacune de ces fonctions n’est pas mutuellement exclusive mais se répète dans le temps et opère selon des conditions contextuelles intra/inter-subjectives. Le meta modèle offre des développements pertinents pour l’étude des processus psychologiques sur un plan dynamique, topologique et systématique.
ΠΕΡΊΛΗΨΗ
Σύνορα υπάρχουν σε κάθε μορφή ανθρώπινης δραστηριότητας. Ίσως η πιο κοινή αναπαράσταση των ορίων είναι ο αποχωρισμός, ωστόσο τα όρια υπονοούνται σε πολλές λειτουργίες που επιτρέπουν την ανάπτυξη, τη δράση, τη σκέψη, την νοηματοδότηση και τη δημιουργία σχέσεων. Σε αυτή την εργασία, τα όρια θεωρούνται ως δυναμικοί σημειωτικοί μηχανισμοί που επιτρέπουν πολλές λειτουργίες σχετικές με κάθε ζωντανό οργανισμό, αλλά και ψυχικά συστήματα. Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη πολλά μοντέλα που εστιάζουν στα όρια από την ψυχανάλυση, την ψυχολογία και τη σημειωτική, ο συγγραφέας προσδιορίζει και συζητά οκτώ διαδικασίες που επιτελούνται από τα όρια: Διάκριση, Διαφοροποίηση, Αποχωρισμός, Εμπερίεξη, Προστασία, Διαμεσολάβηση, Μετασχηματισμός και Ρύθμιση. Κάθε λειτουργία δεν είναι αλληλοαποκλειόμενη αλλά είναι αναδρομική στο χρόνο και λειτουργεί σε σχέση με ενδο/διϋποκειμενικές προϋποθέσεις πλαισίου. Το μετα-μοντέλο προσφέρει σχετική ανάπτυξη στη μελέτη των ψυχολογικών διεργασιών με δυναμικούς, τοπολογικούς και συστημικούς όρους.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The idea of virtuality and negativity recalls the idea of bivalence of meaning and the notions of SIP (Significance In Presentia) and SIA (Significance In Absentia) proposed by Salvatore (Citation2013, Citation2016). Such a theorization is developed in-between domains of psychoanalysis and semiotics. Meaning is considered the effect of the cooperative tension between SIP and SIA over time. SIP is the observable, sensitive, perceptible side of semiosis, i.e. the portion of the world (of the transformation of the world) used as a sign: sounds, gestures, images, a body state, etc.; SIA represents the relevant set of scenarios that work as conditions for the selection of the next sign. This boundary is an essential component of meaning. SIA is not a content or even the hidden side of SIP, rather it is the component of meaning that represents the conditions of interpretability of signs. According to these conditions, the relation of signs is experienced as content. SIA although not present (in terms of sensitive and perceptive manifestations) is active, i.e. it acts through processes of hermeneutization of signs present in the field (Salvatore, Citation2016, Citation2013; Salvatore & Venuleo, Citation2017).
2. Freud recognizes a series of very specific processes to the Unconscious: absence of contradiction, absence of time, primary process – that is, the immediate satisfaction of need -, confusion between external reality and inner psychic reality, condensation and displacement of contents, such as representations of drives.
3. The drive is considered to be an elementary push that is placed on the ‘boundaries’ between the somatic and the psychic.
4. The formation of the Super-Ego in the classic Freudian perspective is connected to the overcoming of the Oedipus complex (around three years of life), but several successive authors have anticipated the Super-Ego and its aggressive and sadistic values since the first months of life (see for example, Melanie Klein, XXXX).
5. Anzieu believes that the skin-ego constitutes a real ‘contact barrier’ (i.e. a border) with multiple functions:
- support or maintenance function (aimed at preserving the body and psychic life)
- container function (of internal organs and of the internal psychic world)
- para-excitation function (in order to protect of the interior from physical aggression)
- identification function (aimed to construct the sense of identity, in terms of uniqueness and individuality)
- intersensoriality function (it unites and connects the sensory devices and the various psychic contents)
- support of sexual excitement function (it is carried out starting from the care and handling of caregivers, allows the localization of the erogenous zones and the recognition of the difference of the sexes)
- libidinal recharge function (the continuous stimulation allows to maintain an adequate level of tension)
- registration of sensory traces function (it works in terms of retention and mnemonic maintenance)
- self-destruct function (the destruction is oriented towards the border of the container when it is pursued the self-cancellation. Defined as ‘anti-function’ as well, it is a toxic or auto-immune function that attacks the other functions of the ego-skin).
6. According to Bick, ‘second skin’ works as a defense, by means of the illusion of omnipotent pseudo-independent forms of protection. The second skin is performed by a hypertonic muscular tension in order to hold the self together and to prevent disintegration.
7. An excess of unprocessed beta elements instead are typical of psychotic states, distortion of reality and dissociative, projective defenses, and destruction and fragmentation of the bonds of meaning between things.
8. The theme of borders is a very present topic in the field of clinical psychology, psychopathology and psychotherapy. It would deserve a separate discussion for the study of contemporary expressions of malaise connected with both the pulverization of borders and the stiffening of borders (in-depth psychoanalytic studies are by Renè Kaes, Christopher Bollas, Jean-Pierre Lebrun, Charles Melman, Massimo Recalcati). Here we recall in the context of family therapy that Salvador Minuchin conceptualized the family as a system characterized by a well-defined structure with three fundamental structural dimensions: the hierarchy, the borders and the alignments. Such forms determine the ways in which family members interact (Minuchin, Citation1974). Each family system, by organizing its interactions, tends to keep its transitional models constant. However, to be functional, a system must be sufficiently flexible and adapt to any developmental or environmental requirements. Boundaries are defined as rules that govern the passage of information. Their function is to protect the differentiation of the system in the various subsystems that compose it. We are in presence of: a) distinct boundaries when the passage of information is adequate in quantity and relevance with respect to the relationship and phase of the life cycle passes; b) diffuse boundaries, if there is the passage of an excessive amount of information and / or qualitatively irrelevant information; c) rigid boundaries when a person receives an insufficient amount of information and / or is deprived of information that would compete. Diffuse borders determine an enmeshment situation, in which the differentiation of the family system is very reduced, the behavior of one member has an immediate influence on that of the others, and each type of tension suffered by the individual is quickly reflected on the other members of the family. The effect is that the system reacts to any disturbance with excessive rapidity and intensity. Structures governed by rigid boundaries determine situations of disengagement, in which there is no sense of belonging and interdependence, communication between the subsystems is difficult, the systems of support and defense of the family are poorly reactive and there is no response in a situation of need.
9. Werner’s orthogenetic principle. It states that each process of development proceeds from a state of relative globality and lack of differentiation to a state of increasing differentiation, articulation, and hierarchic integration (Werner, Citation1957). The emergence of structure is something previously unstructured. Development was seen as a two-aspect process: differentiation of organismic functions from a primordial global and undifferentiated state to a state of hierarchic integration of the differentiated parts (Glick, Citation1992, p. 560).
10. For the ‘semiotic scaffolding’ see (Hoffmeyer, Citation2015; Kull, Citation2014; Valsiner, Citation2005).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Raffaele De Luca Picione
Raffaele de Luca Picione, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Dynamic Psychology at the Giustino Fortunato University (Benevento, Italy), psychotherapist with a psychoanalytic training. His research focuses on subjectivity, affectivity, modeling of the mind and semiotic boundaries, temporality and processes of sensemaking, starting from a psychoanalytic and semiotic perspective. He carried out research periods at Clark University (Massachusetts - USA) in 2012, and Aalborg University (Denmark) in 2015. In 2019, he was invited to the Universidad del Desarollo in Santiago de Chile to give a series of lectures on his fields of expertise and research (psychological and psychoanalytic processes in a semiotic key). He is the author of the volumes ‘La mente come Forma. La mente come Testo. Una indagine semiotico-psicologica dei processi di significazione’ [‘Mind as Form. Mind as Text. A semiotic-psychological investigation of the processes of sensemaking’] (Milano, Mimesis, 2015), ‘L’impresa topologica di Lacan. La psicoanalisi tra superfici, confini, buchi,e annodamenti’ [‘Lacan’s topological adventure. Psychoanalysis between surfaces, borders, holes, and knots’] (Milano, Mimesis, 2020), ‘Health as idiographic process’ (New Charlotte, NC, IAP, 2019), ‘Healthcare and Culture: Subjectivity in medical context’ (New Charlotte, NC, IAP, 2017), and over 90 international and national works including articles/essays/ chapters.