Freedom to Choose: Two Systems of Self-Regulation

For over fifty years we have studied destructive and self-destructive sadomasochistic behavior in individuals, from failure-to-thrive infants to uncontrolled violence in children, to murder and suicide in adolescents and adults. In ordinary clinical work, all the patients we see present with some degree of sadomasochistic functioning, no matter what the diagnosis. Repetitive, resistant, self-defeating functioning, stalling or impasse in the clinical relationship - these form the arena for most analytic endeavors. In our writings on these topics, we have particularly highlighted traumatic origins, helplessness, overwhelming rage, the impact of preoedipal, oedipal, and post-oedipal pathology, terror of affects and excitement, tyrannical superego, and the constant danger of self-destruction.

In this book we hope to present in summary form the basic ideas that have emerged from this work. Rather than detail the arguments, rationales, and underpinnings here, we will direct the reader to those in various other, more extensive discussions. Here we will bring into one place statements and descriptions of how our model of two systems of self-regulation has worked for us to generate a fruitful perspective on development and clinical technique. Part I of the book will take us through developmental phases from pregnancy to old age. In Part II we will turn to descriptions of how our two-systems model can inform and enhance clinical technique in therapies of various kinds.

In this slim volume Jack and Kerry Novick distill their combined century of psychoanalytic experience and thought into a clearly-written, practical guide that will help therapists and patients to reduce their dependence upon repetitive, dead-end patterns of feeling, behavior, and thought. Their description of closed-system patterns of self-regulation strikes chords that go back to Wilhelm Reich's "character armor" - patterns of defense which, while initially adaptive, become constricting and costly. Their technical handling of the constant oscillation between open- and closed-system functioning hat is characteristic of psychoanalytic work recalls Siegfried Bernfeld's comparison of psychoanalysis to a conversation that is begun, then interrupted but later (with effort) renewed and deepened . . . until it is interrupted once again (and so on). Into this old wine the Novicks blend and integrate current findings from the biological, neurological, and social sciences; they then illustrate their theoretical perspective with clinical examples that provide useful guidance to therapists both new and experienced. The Novicks bring an Eriksonian approach to the way they frame both (1) development across the life span and (2) the phases of treatment. They describe how each developmental phase is characterized by a specific challenge and how that challenge can be met with open-system or closed-system responses (or, as is usual, both). Their schematic approach to the tasks encountered by patient, therapist, and significant others as they traverse the therapeutic landscape from evaluation to post-termination will be particularly helpful to trainees; but it also will be of value to experienced therapists who wish to re-view their clinical work through a new lens. This book has implications not just for clinical work but also for the psychoanalytic profession itself, a profession which sometimes has mired itself in closed-system functioning. The Novicks' approach expands the domain of psychoanalysis; it also broadens the tools available to those analysts and therapists who venture into new territories. It stands in stark contrast to the many currently popular approaches which focus on the description and elimination of symptoms, ignoring the human meanings which lie beneath them. A careful reading of the Novicks' book will sensitize readers to the presence of closed-system patterns in themselves, their patients, and the world around them. The result? An enhanced freedom to choose. Paul M. Brinich, PhD Emeritus Professor, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Faculty member, Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas Past President, Association for Child Psychoanalysis