Categories as symptoms: conceptions of love in the psychoanalytic relationship.
An invitation to participate in a conference, especially the phrase, "we hope that your [contribution] might deal with same-sex love," reveals the persistent, lingering effects of the creation of the categories homosexual and heterosexual. Analysis of the phrase suggests a fantasy condensed in the invitation: that a gay psychoanalyst loves and works differently than his heterosexual colleagues and that this difference is determined by his sexual orientation. Approaching the creation of these categories as a symptom of a process of repudiation and projection, the author seeks to begin identifying and sorting through the projected psychic contents that keep these categories' specious effects alive.
Cole
Gilbert W
GW
colegil@msn.com
D001290:Attitude; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008149:Love; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy