| Abstract: | Considers a technique designed to aid the working-through process in psychoanalytic treatment. It consists of an analysand, either during or after treatment, imploding psychodynamic themes that have come to be understood as crucially involved in his/her psychology and psychopathology. This process refers to the person conjuring up affect-laden images in which warded-off libidinal and aggressive impulses are expressed and then met with punishment (e.g., abandonment, castration). Clinical material is cited that suggests that the use of implosive imagery as a psychoanalytic treatment adjunct can lead to the mastery of unconscious conflict, the emergence of new insights, and the retrieval of repressed memories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
