Amphimixis is the psychoanalytic term for the merging of pleasure-centres into an amorphous unity.
Early
Sandor Ferenczi introduced the term into psychoanalysis in ''Thalassa'' (1924), where he used it to describe the process of merging of the partial drives, to create a diffuse state of infant and childhood pleasure. Ferenczi's idea was developed by
Helene Deutsch
Helene Deutsch (née Rosenbach; 9 October 1884 – 29 March 1982) was a Polish American psychoanalyst and colleague of Sigmund Freud. She founded the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. In 1935, she immigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where sh ...
in her description of female sexuality; but would subsequently be criticised for conflating forepleasure and end pleasure by
Michael Balint ,
, image = Monte Verità Gedenktafel Michael Balint 1K4A4638-b.jpg
, caption =
, birth_name = Mihály Maurice Bergsmann
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Budapest
, death_date =
, death_place = London
, occupation = psychoan ...
.
Much later, amphimixis was extended to include a central pleasure centre in the self by
Neville Symington
Neville Symington (3 July 1937 - 3 December 2019) was a member of the Middle Group of British Psychoanalysts which argues that the primary motivation of the child is object-seeking rather than drive gratification. He published a number of books ...
, who saw it as providing the erotic basis for the self-love (
amour propre
''Amour-propre'' (; ) is a French term that can be variously translated as "self-love", "self-esteem", or "vanity". In philosophy, it is a term used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who contrasts it with another kind of self-love which he calls ''amour ...
) of the
narcissist
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
.
[N. Symington, ''Narcissism'' (1993) p. 55]
See also
*
Oral stage
In Freudian psychoanalysis, the term oral stage or hemitaxia denotes the first psychosexual development stage wherein the mouth of the infant is their primary erogenous zone. Spanning the life period from birth to the age of 18 months, the oral s ...
*
Phallic monism
Phallic monism is a term introduced by Chasseguet-Smirgel to refer to the theory that in both sexes the male organ—i.e. the question of possessing the penis or not—was the key to psychosexual development.
The theory was upheld by Sigmund Freu ...
*
Psychosexual development
In Freudian psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking energies from the child be ...
References
{{Reflist, 2}
External links
Amphimixia/Amphimixis ''International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis'', Pierre Sabourin, 2005
Developmental psychology
Freudian psychology