CRITICA

In a wonderful seminar with Tamara Fischmann entitled, “How Dreams May Be an Indicator of Psychotherapeutic Change and Memory Reconsolidation”, hosted by Maggie Zellner, Dr. Fischmann described how effective therapeutic interventions are illustrated in dreams. She demonstrated in her dream cases evidence of memory reconsolidation as well as increased affect regulation and self-agency over time. This led me to see how those improvements point to an unlocking and enhancement of personal freedom. Yet, I wondered what psychic regression might take place when one’s potentiality bumped up against not just societal constraints, but also the terrifying consequences a person would experience if they demonstrated qualities different from normative practices. Can a more intrapsychic model of improvement withstand the kind of societal assaults we are now experiencing?

For solace, I turned to readings by Eric Fromm, though he quickly tempered my optimism. In his article “Humanism and Psychoanalysis”, Fromm discusses a range of humanist thinkers like Johann Gottried Herder, an 18th century Prussian philosopher and theologian, who states “Man…is not born as a fully human being but must develop himself into full humanity”.  For Herder being human is “the highest flowering of cultural and natural development”. But for Fromm, it is obvious that personal freedom has a constrained range of actions within broader societal boundaries. He quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the 18th century German writer: “Man….carries all of humanity, with all its possibilities although he can realize all these potentialities only in a limited way because of the external limitations of his individual existence”. Fromm knows the power of society will see to it that people often do not become aware of discrepancies between their individual interests and that of the dominant culture. Yet I’d like to think there is an opportunistic gap along the borders where creativity can emerge as a forceful protagonist of freedom. It is in restive times that we find a more bounded creativity that percolates parallel to more censoring forces. (Thoughts like these reminds me of a discussion I had with a college friend long ago where rather than seeing static IQ scores as the sole measure of intelligence, she favored the metaphor of a rubber band stretched to broader more expansive ranges of exceptionality.)

I felt my creativity stretch during Jeanne Wolff Bernstein’s March 2025 visit as one of PINC’s International Scholars. Maureen Murphy’s introduction and Jeanne’s exchange with Reyna Cowan gave attendees an overview of Jeanne’s lifetime of work. For me, her work resembles a social ecological model reflecting the dynamic interrelations between personal and environmental factors and her powerful presence across these spheres. It starts with Jeanne’s extensive teaching record and her ability to internally modify theoretical stances based on life experiences. Her mental agility is self-evident as seen in her deep dive into film noir and her book about the artist Manet. Both serve as vehicles for her to experience more radical dimensions of psychoanalytic theories. It is her ability to view perspectives from multiple vertices that augments her talent. We then move up to a more community level with her capacity to bear witness and listen to the suffering of psychoanalysts practicing under war time conditions. It is compassion wrapped up into collective action. We then see her organizational leadership evident in her work with PINC, Lacan and European institutes and now her service as program Chair of this year’s International Psychoanalytic Association Congress. 

Jeanne Wolff Bernstein’s creativity exemplifies a freedom similar to the expansive dream quality reflective of successful psychoanalytic outcomes. It also points to operationalizing Fromm’s definition of humanism which relies on a faith in man and an ability to evolve to a “unity of the human race, in tolerance and peace….where man can realize himself, to become what he can be.” Fromm expressed a mandate that “The future of man depends on the strength of humanism in our time, and we hope that psychoanalysis will serve the idea of humanism and contribute to its strength.”

Reference:
Fromm, E. (1964) Humanism and Psychoanalysis. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 1:69-79