NCSPP

Mutual love, while inducing great happiness, weakens higher mental functions and, so, is paradoxically traumatic. We will begin with the clinical observation that experiences of satisfaction, especially when mutual, make people happy but anxious. We will look at a literary example of the traumatic aspect of mutual love, and consider Freud’s two-stage theory of trauma. We will read papers by Freud, Weiss, and Laplanche that shed light on why mutual love is traumatic. We will examine the clinical implications of this phenomenon, including its ramifications for the therapeutic relationship where, if things go well, mutual love naturally develops.