title: Ownership: a pathography of the self.
abstract: With this essay I intend to base a theory of psychodynamics on the concept of ownership. I begin with the crucial but negative notion, unconsciousness, exploring certain ways in which this notion is necessary to any psychodynamic theory. Following Havens (1986), I take the concept of self as supraordinate to the elements of psychoanalytic structural theory. Building upon a unique relationship between the self and the unconscious, I then show that variations in self-ownership suffice to generate the gamut of psychopathological situations. I critique the economic aspect of Freudian psychodynamic theory, suggesting a way to improve upon it. In light of the theory thus elaborated, I examine the problem of deliberate suffering. Finally, I suggest a place of special importance for the present theory in psychoanalysis and psychiatry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Mann
mesh_terms: D004532:Ego; D005619:Freudian Theory; D006801:Humans; D010067:Ownership; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology