A CASE FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

Jonas: “A History of Unstable Relationships”

By James R. Ruby, PhD., Assistant Professor of Human Services,
California State University at Fullerton

Background Information
Jonas is a 33-year-old Caucasian, gay male who was born in the
back of a station wagon and became a ward of the state within 6 months
of his birth. Jonas was in and out of foster care and group homes until
he received a permanent foster placement at the age of 10. The family
that took Jonas in was an affluent two-career family with one daughter,
age 7. Jonas described the home as immaculate, strict, and in his
opinion, “a bit neurotic.”
Corporal punishment was used in the home with great frequency
and Jonas described his foster father as cold, brutal, and forbidding.
Jonas described his relationship with his foster mother as less
problematic, but he stated that he believed he could “never please her.”
Jonas’ younger sister was described as “simply perfect.”

At age 12, Jonas was sent to a military school because of his

behaviors at home and at school. He described the military school
setting as one he enjoyed, overall. The structure and the clearly defined
expectations brought him “a sense of comfort.” However, Jonas
described an experience of sexual abuse that was perpetrated upon him
by one of his military school instructors. This experience, he believed,
had left an indelible mark on him.

Jonas came to counseling due to a series of unstable relationships

with men, in combination with an inability to maintain employment.
Jonas had been in a serious relationship with a man for two years that
he described as incredibly passionate. In fact, Jonas described this man
as the love of his life. When Jonas’ partner began to lose interest in
him and subsequently show interest in other men, Jonas became more
and more agitated and angry. His attempts at maintaining the
relationship became more desperate and volatile. When Jonas’ partner
decided to end the relationship, Jonas exploded with anger and a
physical altercation ensued. After assaulting his partner, Jonas left the
apartment and vandalized his partner’s sports car by scratching curse
words into it with his keys. The police were called and Jonas was
arrested. As part of his sentence, Jonas was required to seek counseling.
During the counseling intake assessment, it was revealed that Jonas had
a pattern of unstable relationships that carried over to the work
environment. After being fired from a position, Jonas broke into his
previous place of employment, erased files from computers, and
vandalized property in the office. After both the relationship break-up
and being fired, Jonas showed significant suicidal ideation.
You Continue Jonas’ Psychoanalytically Oriented Therapist
1. What are some thoughts and feelings that stir within you
surrounding hearing Jonas’ story?
My thoughts and feelings that stir within me when he was sexually abused by one
of the military instructors that left an indelible mark on him. Childhood sexual abuse
has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating
disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual
problems, and relationship problems (Hall, 2011). At the time he thought he had found
his true love and had felt loved, it gives him a feeling of worthiness that someone had
really loved him. But that man whom he really loved had lost interest in him and had
found someone else he can no longer cope up with the feeling of emptiness again. As a
result, he went mad and had done things that he shouldn't do.

2. How might these thoughts and feelings help, or hinder, your work
with him?

As of now, my thoughts and feelings don’t hinder my work with him.

3. Traditional psychoanalytic approaches focused on the counselor

being a “blank slate,” but Dr. Ruby focused on building an empathic,
non-judgmental relationship with Jonas. Why do you suppose he
focused on this?

Dr. Ruby focused on this because I think It would be easy to assist in helping
people get to the heart of their issues and back to appreciate their lives and loved ones.

4. Jonas described two events in his life in which he reacted in a rage-

filled manner to the end of a relationship. Why do you suppose he
reacted to those events in this way?

I think he reacted in this way because he felt nobody had really loved him he was
betrayed and had experienced a lot of pain in his life.

5. Are there any defense mechanisms that might have been activated by
Jonas during these times?

Yes, there is a defense mechanism that has been activated in him. He displaces
his anger to his partner because he had ended the relationship with him but
instead of talking and accepting the situation he had assault his partner, He left
the apartment and vandalized his partner’s sports car by scratching curse
words into it with his keys.
6. Based on the brief telling of Jonas’ story, what developmental
milestones might have been missed, or negatively impacted, in his
life?

In the three early stages of development that often bring people to counseling when
not appropriately resolved. These three stages had negatively gives impact in Jonas life.
First is the oral stage, which deals with the inability to trust oneself and others, resulting in
the fear of loving and forming close relationships and low self-esteem. Next, is the anal
stage, which deals with the inability to recognize and express anger, leading to the denial of
one’s own power as a person and the lack of a sense of autonomy. Third, is the phallic
stage, which deals with the inability to fully accept one’s sexuality and sexual feelings, and
also to difficulty in accepting oneself as a man or woman.

7. How might this have influenced who he is today?

According to the Freudian psychoanalytic view, these three areas of personal and
social development love and trust, dealing with negative feelings, and developing a positive
acceptance of sexuality are all grounded in the first 6 years of life. This period is the
foundation on which later personality development is built. When a child’s needs are not
adequately met during these stages of development, an individual may become fixated at
that stage and behave in psychologically immature ways later in his life.
Jonas was fixated on this stages in life. As a child, he was in and out of a foster care.
He was already 10 when he received a permanent foster placement. By age of 12,
he had experienced being sexually abused by one of the military instructors.

8. What other psychoanalytically-oriented therapeutic techniques

might you have utilized with Jonas? How might they have been
helpful in your work with him?

Probably I will still utilize the free association. Since, free association is a central
technique in psychoanalytic therapy, and it plays a key role in the process of maintaining
the analytic framework. In free association, clients are encouraged to say whatever
comes to mind, regardless of how painful, silly, trivial, illogical, or irrelevant it may be. In
essence, clients flow with any feelings or thoughts by reporting them immediately
without censorship.