IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLINICAL SITUATION O F REFORMULATION OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC-THEORY OF AGGRESSION

A brief historical review of the theory of aggression reveals that Fre ud's death instinct based theory has been questioned by many theorist- clinicians who increasingly have seen the need to account for a primar y nondestructive aspect of aggression as well as a primary relationshi p between aggression and adaptation. There is aggression which is inhe rently nondestructive alongside inborn aggression that is destructive though not hostile. Critical is the concensus that hostile destructive ness (HD) is not inborn but, rather, that it is ''produced'' when exce ssive unpleasure (EU) experiencing activates the inborn mechanism whic h generates HD. Such changes in theory have implications for the psych oanalytic clinical situation. For example, the analysis of transferenc e hate is facilitated when transference interpretations are linked wit h reconstructions of past traumatic experiences. The influence on inte rpretations of transference hate of the key hypothesis that ''EU gener ates HD'', insight into one case of malignant hate, the need for its c ontainment in the transference, the analyst's need for self analysis, and the treatment approach are discussed; so is the need for benign en actments of transference engagement.