CURRENT VIEWS OF MASOCHISTIC PHENOMENA AN D THEIR MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS - OVERVIEW

The term masochism, which was originally used in a specifically sexual sense to determine masochistic perversion, has come to cover a wide v ariety of clinical phenomena from the depressive-masochistic personali ty to extreme forms of self-destructiveness. Moreover, the term is use d at varied levels of abstraction: descriptive, dynamic, and as a meta psychological construct. Because of the confusion engendered by its mu ltiple meanings, many attempts at diagnostic and nosological clarifica tion have been made. Psychodynamically, masochistic phenomena are mult iply determined and serve multiple functions. While in the ''classical '' view masochism was considered a drive phenomenon and, with respect to ''moral masochism'', an unconscious need for punishment for incestu ous oedipal wishes, a considerable amount of contributions has been em phasizing its ''narcissistic'' functions: its role as a defense agains t painful affects, especially the pain of separation, the establishmen t of a symbiotic relationship with a mighty and idealized object whose empathic mirroring is saught for, the possibility to gain illusory om nipotent control over the object, and its role in defending against di ssolution of self boundaries and fragmentation of the self. Structural assessment seems to be necessary for an adequate understanding of the predominant function masochism has in a given case.