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Int. J. Psychoanal.

(2001) 82, 917

THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF :


The Claustrum as Pathological Container

ROGERWILLOUGHBY, FOLKESTONE, KENT

The author discusses the claustrum as an aspect of pathological containment within inner
space and its relation to Bions (1962a, b) containercontained concept. Having outlined
the early psychoanalytic conceptual foundations of claustrophobia and the claustrum, the
author charts the term from its introduction by Erikson in 1937 through its divergent
developmental trajectories within the conceptual vocabulary of the classical, Independent
and Kleinian schools up to Meltzers (1992) contemporary reworking. The vicissitudes of
the transmission of ideas within and between these groups is stressed, Esther Bicks work
being particularly highlighted as an example of a nodal intellectual in uence. The
claustral space within the physical or internal object body, its internal structuralisation,
and the impairments in quality of psychic life of the selves that seek to inhabit such spaces,
entered through intrusive projective identi cation, are highlighted. Developmental and
psychopathological claustrum manifestations are discussed, particularly fear, separation,
problems mourning and claustrophobia. A reciprocal and hierarchical avatar relation
between the claustrum and the container is proposed.

The concept of the container, particularly as model it becomes one where in phantasy, bad
developed by Bion (1959, 1962a, 1962b) has feelings ( b [beta] elements) are projected
had a profound inuence on psychoanalytic into the good breast container ( ), contained
thinking over the last forty years. In his for- ( ) and detoxied there [Ta ] by the receptive
mulation Bion, using projective identication (reverie) mothers love and understanding
(Klein, 1946) as a model of primitive think- (a [alpha]function) and reintrojected in
ing, depicts the distressed infant being their modied (a [alpha] element) and hence
soothed by its loving and receptive mother, useable form. For Bion the product of the
which experience and function it can subse- container contained relation is meaning, its
quently internalise to develop its own capa- relative benignity depending on the nature
city for thinking and tolerance of feelings. of the dynamic link L(ove), H(ate) or K(now-
Commenting on this metaphor Bion writes: ledge) [libidinal, aggressive and epistemo-
philic drives] between container and
From the above theory I shall abstract for use as a contained (Bion, 1963).
model the idea of a container into which an object is In contrast to the abstract symbolic gen-
projected and the object that can be projected into the
erative notion of the container contained is
container; the latter I shall designate by the term
contained. The unsatisfactory nature of both terms the anti-developmental concrete retreat that
points to the need for further abstraction. (Bion, 1962b, is the claustrum. Like the concept of the
p. 90; my italics). container it has attained increasing currency
across diverse psychoanalytic traditions. In
In his subsequent work Bion pursued the each, it has evolved its own distinctive
continued abstraction of this idea, using a though overlapping and mutually inuen-
range of imported signiers. Interpolating tialconceptual identities. The terms com-
these into the container contained ( ) mon ground centres on a notion of a
918 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
boundaried inner space, the prototype of Early psychoanalytic ancestry of the
which is that within the primary object, into claustrum
or out of which the subject desires passage.
Such phantasies have been regarded as Thoughts that hypothetically reected in-
fundamental in claustrophobic and claustro- tra-uterine and birth experiences, together
philic psychopathology. The vicissitudes of with wishes to return to or avoid these or
the term as it has appeared, been lost and analogous states, have been prevalent within
reappeared within the history of psycho- psychoanalytic narratives, Freud regarding
analysis has contributed to an often fragmen- them as a species of primal phantasy (La-
tary awareness of this heritage. In addition, it planche & Pontalis, 1973). The nature of the
is noteworthy that serious consideration of phantasy (a correlate of wish or desire), or
the relationship between the claustrum and the degree of cathexis or anticathexis, that
the container has been largely absent. The attached to this bodily or psychic space
present paper brings together the differing assumed for Freud the role of a mediator for
manifestations of the concept of the claus- psychic development and psychopathology.
trum as employed within the Classical, Internal conict could thus become a phobia
Independent and Kleinian schools, tracing through its displacement on to the external
these in the psychoanalytic literature up to environment.
Meltzers (1992) contemporary reworking. Thus, in The Interpretation of Dreams
Then I shall propose a new and specic (1900) Freud writes that phantasies of intra-
connection to the container, arguing that the uterine life contain an explanation of the
claustrum is its Gothic avatar. remarkable dread that many people have of
being buried alive Moreover, the act of
birth is the rst experience of anxiety, and
Background thus the source and prototype of the affect of
anxiety (Freud, 1900, p. 400). Jones took
Etymologically claustrum is a Latinate these ideas up emphasising that both the
term, signifying a fence, barrier or, more actual birth experience and its subsequent
particularly, the space it encloses. It remains representation in dreams and phantasies con-
in use today within neuro-anatomy. Cloister, stituted the basis of such phobias as those of
a common derivative of the original term, being buried alive, of being shut in an
describes the sequestered living space of a enclosed space (claustrophobia), and many
monastery. Thus, semantically the term car- others (1912, p. 256).
ries overtones not only of a boundaried living Later, Freud (191617) added that separa-
area, but also of a certain metaphysical and tion from the mother is the determinant of
moral status: sanctity for adherents or nar- anxiety including that experienced at birth, a
row-mindedness and delusion (a narcissistic view he then (Freud, 1926) accorded pri-
state) for external critics. By analogy Chau- macy; birth, separation and castration all
cer and others until the sixteenth century being seen as danger situations involving
used cloister as a synonym for the womb, involuntary separation from mother and
preguring concretely in part its contempor- hence evoking signal anxiety. Castration is
ary Meltzerian signication. The notion of a here regarded as the loss of the capacity to
cloister in conjunction with phobia become reunited with mother, via loss of the
formed the roots of the term claustrophobia penis in boys and loss of love in girls, while
within the psychological nosology, coined in intra-uterine phantasies are, Freud (1926)
1871 by Raggi (Lewin, 1935) and introduced argues, incest phantasies of the sexually
into the English language literature by inhibited. Freud linked the latter view with
Benjamin Ball (1879). Ferenczi, who previously had suggested that
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 919
claustrophobia could be regarded as a de- ceptualisation of the inner world, one that
fence against the wish to return to the womb differed signicantly from that held within
(Ferenczi, 1922). ego-psychology. Ernest Jones, Kleins mentor
Sexual drives, intercourse and the Oedipus in the British Society, contributed to this
complex may, given the above, all be re- development directly in his description of the
garded as involving claustrophilic claustro- young childs views on the actual mothers
phobic separation dynamics as core anatomy and the reproductive process. In the
elements. What is wished for is freedom of, absence of knowledge, the young childs
or the objects acquiescence to, both exclu- curiosity about the mothers insides and its
sive access and egress, with separation being processes leads to various phantasies, chief
related to the involuntary loss (castration) of among which is the idea that the abdomen
this oedipal (linking) capacity by an intrud- [is] merely a bag of undifferentiated contents
ing third. Development and inner freedom into which food goes and out of which faeces
however rests on the oedipal capacity to [and babies] come (Jones, 1918, p. 694).
sustain a triangular space, created through This, together with a lack of differentiation
an acceptance of both the paternal third, a between the anus and the vagina, yields both
creative parental couple independent of the the cloacal theory of birth (Jones, 1918)
child, and the childs differentiated relation- and the undifferentiated value placed on
ships to each parent (Britton, 1989). These different body products, such as faeces and
ideas continued to exert an inuence as Freud babies. Both are initially highly esteemed. It
struggled towards a more symbolic inner is through learning from experience that
world psychological perspective, as exempli- structure and dimension develop, with dis-
ed by his ideas on melancholia (1917), the tinct compartments and their contents, affec-
fort-da game (1920) and the superego as tively hued, emerging from this primordial
part of the second topography (1923). claustrum.
Others took this development up and the The external mothers mysterious body
resultant proliferation of psychoanalytic the- claustrum corresponded roughly to the clas-
ory fostered its bifurcation into divergent sical position, constituted as it was through
though not wholly segregated schools. As a the operation of consciously articulable
consequence, concepts, such as the claustrum phantasy, which remitted gradually with the
and related accounts of claustrophobia, de- subjects increasing knowledge and adapta-
veloped distinctive local identities. In Britain tion to reality. In Britain, however, the inner
such developments centred on Melanie world of unconscious phantasy, its objects
Klein, her followers and the Independents, constituted partly through internalisation of
and it is to them that I shall now turn before imagos, came to be seen as qualitatively
considering further developments that arose different; continuously active, concrete, dy-
in America within ego-psychology. namic, primitive and without serious suscept-
ibility to adaptation to external reality. Klein
Britain, Kleinians and Independents and Fairbairn largely independently contrib-
uted to this distinctive conceptualisation, an
Psychoanalysis from its beginnings in inner world both saw as beset with claustral
Britain has had a distinctive free-thinking anxieties and phantasies.
tradition, with prominence given to early In The Psychoanalysis of Children (1932)
development and object relations, the latter Klein, drawing on Freuds (1926) ideas about
for some theorists being seen as existing early anxiety situations, argues that when
from the earliest days postpartum and thus phantasies of the hostile combined parental
rendering primary narcissism obsolete. One gure predominate a boy s infantile castra-
result of this was an increasingly rich con- tion anxiety can involve terror of having the
920 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
penis not only castrated but also retained result of this is a loss of differentiation
within the mothers body. There is no body to between self and object, identity confusion.
mourn. Klein contends that inhibitions in Klein then specically related projective
development can result, which may include: identication to claustrophobia. Uncon-
scious phantasies she writes, of forcing the
various forms of claustrophobia. It seems certain whole self into the inside of the object (to
that claustrophobia goes back to the fear of being shut obtain control and possession) led, through
up inside the mothers dangerous body. In the particular
the fear of retaliation, to a variety of persecu-
dread of not being able to extricate the penis from the
mothers body it would seem that this fear has been tory anxieties such as claustrophobia
narrowed down to a fear on behalf of the penis (1932, (1946, p. 12). This use of projective identi-
p. 242). cation here loosened the biological specicity
of the debate (excrements are after all gender
Here Klein followed Freuds views on neutral) and thus created a unied phantasy to
phobias as a phenomenon generated by underlie claustrophobia in both sexes.
phallic level castration anxieties, consequent In 1955 Klein returned to a consideration
to sadism, longing and exploratory curiosity of claustrophobia, rstly recapitulating her
(the epistemophilic instinct) directed towards earlier ideas in The psycho-analytic play
the mother-and-her-insides, its primary ob- technique (Klein, 1955a). Then in On
ject. Transposition on to external world identication (1955b) Klein, whilst discuss-
objects and situations through progressive ing Julian Greens novel If I Were You,
symbolic equations, Klein (1930) argues, develops her argument signicantly. She sug-
occurs as the epistemophilic instincts origi- gests that:
nal object becomes overly saturated with
inhibiting persecutory anxiety. The external projective identication may result in the fear that
world thus becomes an attenuated substitute the lost part of the self will never be recovered because
source for epistemophilic conquest and grat- it is buried in the object. In the story Fabian feels
ication, motivated by degrees of primary after both his transformation into Poujars and into
Frugesthat he is entombed and will never escape
claustrophobic anxiety (frustration) within
again. This implies that he will die inside his objects.
the inner world. Conversely, claustrophilic There is another point I wish to mention here: besides
tendencies, particularly when combined with the fear of being imprisoned inside the mother, I have
marked anxiety about destructiveness, can found that another contributory factor to claustropho-
stie development, a thesis Klein illustrated bia is the fear relating to the inside of one s own body
with material from her patient, Dick. His and the dangers threatening there. To quote Miltons
extreme inhibition and autistic-like withdra- lines, Thou art become (O worst imprisonment) the
dungeon of thyself (1955b, p. 166).
wal manifested his psychically taking refuge
in the phantasies of the dark, empty mothers
body (Klein, 1930, p. 227) after depositing The twin danger sources described, of
its fearful contents along with his own entrapment in ones object or one s own body,
destructiveness into the outside world. are connected by Klein in her nal paper On
In Notes on some schizoid mechanisms the sense of loneliness , wherein she writes
Klein depicts projective identication primar- that claustrophobia derives from two main
ily as an unconscious phantasy in which sources: projective identication into the
sadistic omnipotent intrusion into the object mother leading to an anxiety of imprison-
is occasioned by means of harmful excre- ment inside her; and reintrojection resulting
ments, expelled in hatred [together with] in a feeling that inside oneself one is
split-off parts of the ego [intended] not hemmed in by resentful internal objects
only to injure but also to control and to take (1963, p. 308).
possession of the object (1946, p. 8). One Post-Kleinian developments have been
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 921
profoundly inuenced by the work of Bion, poration shadows identication in character-
his interrelated views on the container ising infantile dependence, the inner world
contained relation as detailed earlier and his becomes populated by claustral objects, var-
distinction between pathological (intrusive, iously phobic and philic in aspect. The
evacuatory) and normal (communicative) claustrophobic self, according to Fairbairn,
modes of projective identication (Bion, remains more or less vulnerable to the idea
1959, 1962a, 1962b) being particularly that it will be trapped with its primary object,
relevant here. Considering claustrophobia thus subjectobject differentiation can be
specically, Bion (1965) linked it with agor- complicated as the object in which the
aphobia and suggested that the differences individual is incorporated is incorporated in
between these states are apparent rather than the individual (1941, pp. 4243). In this
real. The invariant was space, representing manner, as the object is incorporated the
emotions which are felt to be indistinguish- claustrum is internalised.
able from the place where the thing was Claustrophobia theory subsequently at-
(1965, p. 124). Space, or its absence, is thus tained a certain valency within British
experienced as identical with the bad object, psychoanalysis, it being employed as a phe-
the no-breast present. The experience is, for nomenon around which development and
the claustrophobic, productive of phobic psychopathology, particularly schizoid and
symptoms through projective identication borderline conditions, could be conceptua-
into the environment, rather than being lised. Central to these developments were
productive of thought, due to an intolerance Guntrip (1961, 1968), who explicated Fair-
of frustration (Bion, 1962a). Mourning and bairns work, and later Rey (1994), who
consequently symbolisation are impaired. linked Guntrips work with that of Klein in
Mason (1981), arguing that claustrophobia developing his seminal ideas on claustro-
can be a defence against psychosis, took this agoraphobia and claustro-agoraphobia-
up insightfully in his discussion of the philia. The idea of the claustrum itself,
primitive suffocating superego, the outward however, was something that neither clinician
projection of which renders its receiving took up, their emphasis being on dynamic
claustrum claustrophobic. processes rather than internal geography.
Among the British Independents, apart
from some early case histories of claustro- American developments: Erikson and Lewin
phobic patients (e.g. Rivers, 1917; Miller,
1930), Fairbairns work in this area has Whilst the concepts of claustrophobia, the
had a profound inuence. His conclusions, inner world and object relations were initially
couched in terms of object relations, tally in European developments, the closely related
important respects with the independent notion of the claustrum rst emerged within
work of the Kleinians. Fairbairn (1941) American ego-psychology. Erikson intro-
placed the origins of claustrophobia within duced the term into the psychoanalytic
the stage of transitional or quasi- nomenclature in his paper Congurations in
independence, between infantile and mature playclinical notes (Homburger, 1937).
dependence. Struggling between develop- Erikson discusses the spatial existence of
mental urges towards separation from primi- childrens play as a characteristic that differ-
tive relating through primary identication entiates it from language and proceeds to
with the object and the regressive pull of articulate associated ideas about inner space.
such identication, Fairbairn saw the self as After a passing reference to an 8-year-old
oscillating between fears of engulfment or boy, E, who viewed the female body as a
connement and isolation, or between claus- claustrum (1937, p. 152) Erikson discusses
trophobia and agoraphobia. As oral incor- the idea in more depth, writing:
922 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
The phallic phase, last of the ambivalent stages, leads nates in the infantile oral triad, which
the child into a maze of claustrum fantasies, in which consists of wishes to devour, be devoured
some childrenfor a longer or shorter timeget and to sleep, which wishes arise in the
hopelessly lost. They want to touch, enter and know the nursing situation (rather than being vestigial
secrets of all interiors but are frightened of dark rooms
and dream of jails and tombs. As they ee the
memories of actual pre-natal states). Being
claustrum they would like to hide in mothers arms; moved from the breast to the lap stimulated
eeing their own disturbing impulses toward the wishes in the infant to be within the mother,
mothers body they escape into wilful acts of displaced wherein the infant could continue to feed or
violence, only to be restricted and jailed again. The sleep uninterrupted. In phantasy this is
mothers body into which the baby wanted to retreat in achieved either by being swallowed or ac-
order to nd food, rest, sleep, and protection from the tively gnawing into the mother.
dangerous world, becomes in the phallic phase the
Although Lewin continued to accept
dangerous world, the very object and symbol of
aggressive conquest (Homburger, 1937, pp. 171 172). Freuds thesis that phobias were primarily
determined by oedipal and phallic stage
dynamics, he latterly proposed that pre-
Continuing, Erikson differentiates the male genital (particularly oral) components were
and female developmental trajectories within also discernibly inuential (Lewin, 1952). At
this phase, highlighting boys predominant this point Lewin begins to employ claus-
externalising and intrusive mode while to trum as a term and, although not citing
the girl, her own bodys claustrum offers a Erikson, it appears likely, since they had an
vague promise and new dangers (p. 172). overlapping publishing history in the Psy-
Eriksons introduction of the term, however, choanalytic Quarterly, that he was inuenced
failed to catch on at the time and it would lie by his colleague s earlier work. Using Freuds
dormant for fteen years before re-emerging (191617) idea that phobic facades are
in the psychoanalytic literature, this time in equivalent to a dreams manifest content,
the work of Bertram Lewin. Lewin argues that just as a dream symbol
Lewin in a series of inuential works may represent differing latent thoughts the
(1933, 1935, 1950, 1952, 1953) investigated claustrum (while it invariably signies the
ideas of inner space and particularly claus- maternal intracorporal situation) may carry
trophobic and dream phenomena (for an differing ideational and affective loads. The
introduction to his work see Arlow, 1973a, locus of fear may be inside or outside the
1973b). He drew widely on the existing claustrum, while dialectally the locus of
literature and appreciatively quotes Klein desire (or safety) occupies the reciprocal
(1932) (Lewin, 1935). Like Erikson, he position. Illustrating this, Lewin writes that:
emphasises phallic level (castration) anxi-
eties as characterising claustrophobia. In his The intraclaustral situation may be a place of wakeful-
early work Lewin (1933, 1935) privileges ness and starvation; but if the claustrum is affectively
oral incorporation as a passive means by toned by the associated idea of a quiet uterus, a good
which a return to a safe anxiety-relieving breast, or peaceful sleep, it is a haven and a place that
can be used in the construction of defense mechanisms,
intracorporal status can be achieved in
so that it becomes a natural refuge. The claustrum in
phantasy, displacing the father and rival this case is not the projection of a danger; the danger is
siblings in the process. Lewin stresses the projected elsewhere, and to the claustrum is projected
defensive nature of the phantasy, in which the warding-off function, i.e., a part of the egos
the self is either equated with the penis or the defensive function (1952, p. 307).
foetus, anxiety only arising with the prospect
of eviction by the intruding paternal penis or Thus, in the phobic organisation Lewins
the act of birth. The basis of the claustrum claustrum can have multiple functions, often
phantasy, Lewin (1950) later argues, origi- determined by pre-oedipal dynamics,
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 923
especially the wish to sleep at the breast (as be eaten, separated, poisoned, suffocated,
one element of the oral triad). He suggests buried alive, and castrated (1964, p. 318; see
that the relative capacity to sleep within a also Ostow, 1955). Gehl emphasises that with
state of secure object dependency can be claustrophobic states physical mobility les-
seen as a marker of an individuals state of sens the phobic anxiety. Later Gehl (1973)
mind vis-a`-vis the claustrum. Lewin couches took up this idea from a slightly different
this as an empirical rule writing: vertex, discussing how indecision (a sort of
mental mobility ) can preserve the self from
Contentment in or acceptance of the claustrum as a commitment and thus claustral connement.
place of safety implies the ability to nd solace or Gehls emphasis on the phase- and zone-
gratication in sleep as a satisfactory substitute for the specic nature of phantasy, resulting in the
protective and preoedipal mother. This may be and claustrum having similar oral, anal and
often is connected with a corresponding denial of
phallic components (relative xation at one
dissatisfactionwith her. On the other hand, anxiety over
being within the claustrum implies that this fantasy of or other of these determining the predomi-
rest is not attainable because of a disturbance in the nant phantasy), reected increasing Ameri-
relation to the mother, and sleep cannot serve as an can interest in primitive states of mind.
equivalent of good mother or good breast (1952, p. Together with the phase-specic claustrum
311). phantasies, this arguably moves closer to the
Kleinian thinking of Bick and Meltzer, to
The latter idea was subsequently extended which I shall now turn.
by Lewin (1953) as part of a revision of his
concept of the dream screen. In the neurotic Esther Bicks neglected contribution
character, Lewin suggests, anxieties about
fusion with the breast transform it into a Whilst the notion of the claustrum can be
claustrum, the phobic s dream screen. Em- seen to have its conceptual origins in the
phasising the breasts oral aspects, Lewin work of Freud, Klein and Fairbairn, and the
notes that it is the rst projected eating term itself emanated from Erikson followed
up organ which the baby knows, when it by Lewin, Esther Bick appears to have been
envelops him and puts him to sleep (Lewin, the proximate, and perhaps least appreciated,
1953, p. 194). link to the concepts contemporary use by
Lewins use of the claustrum was quickly Meltzer. Taking the term apparently from
and widely taken up in American psycho- Lewin (1952) Bick incorporated it within her
analysis. The concept was usefully applied 1953 British Psychoanalytical Society Mem-
to, among other areas, addictions (Wurmser, bership paper (Bick, 2001) and began to give
1980), depression (Gehl, 1964; Asch, 1966), it a distinctive Kleinian hue. Given its
indecision (Gehl, 1973), psychosomatic con- importance in the conceptual development of
ditions (Jessner et al., 1955) and sibling the claustrum and its hitherto neglected
phantasies (Arlow, 1960, 1972). I shall here, status I shall describe it here in some detail.
for reasons of space, limit discussion to the Bicks patient, a 37-year-old woman, who
contributions by Gehl (1964, 1973). He presented with pervasive disabling phobic
(Gehl, 1964) suggests the claustrum func- states (including claustrophobia) and intru-
tions as a receptacle into which conict can sive suicidal thoughts, was ve years into her
be projected and thus isolated (paralleling second analysis, conducted four times a week
the transitional object acting as a container and then extended, after two years, to ve
for more positive feelings), with depression times a week. The patients marriage was
following on the breakdown of this strategy. unconsummated due to her marked fear that
Claustral isolation, however, entails being intercourse would result in her small in-
subject to oral, anal, and phallic attacks; to sides being shattered.
924 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
In the second year of the analysis, during tra (2001, p. 14). In her summary Bick
the Christmas break, the patient became indicates a tripartite claustral structure. Thus
acutely anxious, feeling unable to breathe or she argues that her patients (oral and anal)
drink. Bick argued that these symptoms aggressive and appropriating relation to the
derived from difculties co-ordinating primary object, the mother-and-her-bodily-
breathing with feeding at the breast, which contents, makes it into a body containing
became experienced as a claustrum, asso- three cavities: the breast, the womb [and] the
ciated with the maternal claustrum. Introjec- head claustra. These were emptied of the
tion of the breast resulted in incorporation of good contents and lled with bad ones.
not only its nourishing but also its suffocat- Through introjective and projective pro-
ing qualities. Containment was thus linked cesses they became her internal and external
with connement. The patient attempted to claustra (Bick, 2001, p. 19). This early work
manage the latter through projection, as Bick by Bick regrettably attracted little direct
describes: attention until recently (Willoughby, 2001),
although, as I shall suggest below, it did nd
The breast which suffocated my patient from within a contemporary re-emergence and develop-
was the internal breast claustrum containing the ment in the writings of Bicks supervisee and
substances of the object she felt she sucked out, the air colleague Donald Meltzer.
and the milk. The [suffocating] breast claustrum she
Before turning to his work, however, it is
projected [for example] into [a] garment when she
pulled it over her head, because she felt there was no
pertinent to here briey consider Bicks
air or bad air in it [or into] running water in washing (1968, 1986) later work. She had argued in
her hair because she felt there was too much water or her 1953 paper (Bick, 2001) that catastrophic
bad water. The water stood for milk (2001, p. 13). anxieties evoked by thoughts of sexual inter-
courseduring which there is a convergence
Bick then went on to detail other claustra of both internal and external dangers entail-
and their projective relationship to specic ing destruction of both self and objectwere
hooks in the environment: countered by a defence of immobility, of
suspension. This, I suggest, contributed to
The inside of the body, the womb claustrum which her thinking about the psychic functions of
contained the parental genitals in intercourse she skin and second-skin phenomena (Bick,
projected into theatres, cinemas, etc. The uterus as a 1968). Bick (1968), now using Bions
claustrum was described by Jones and Ferenczi. The
(1962b) concept of the container (and with-
head claustrum with the mad thoughts in it she
projected into books and any reading matter. The fears,
out again mentioning the term claustrum),
symptoms and inhibitions were related to the organs argued that a sense of self-cohesion in the
and substances with which she felt she attacked her primary unintegrated state is acquired
mothers breast and body (2001, p. 18). through introjection of and then identica-
tion with an external containing object,
Bick makes it clear that for her patient the concretely experienced as skin. This contain-
claustrum is a lavatory container speci- ing skin is initially an amalgam of that of
cally for evacuation of unwanted part objects both self and mother, passively experienced,
previously taken from mother, which now are which, when incorporated, gives rise to the
unsustainable, have degenerated into detritus, fantasy of internal and external spaces
or are otherwise persecutory. Using dream (Bick, 1968, p. 484) and hence facilitates
material Bick shows that the cavities are to development, through the normal cycles of
[the patient] lavatories lled with the cut out projection, containment and introjection.
and introjected bits of her mothers breast Failure to adequately introject a containing
and body and the parental genitals in inter- skin object encourages, under pressure from
course. In projection they became her claus- catastrophic anxieties about fragmentation,
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 925
active self-containment through muscular identication into the idealised phantasy
second-skin formations (Bick, 1968), includ- world of the maternal rectum, a secret
ing adhesive identity (Bick, 1986; Meltzer, intrusion facilitated by anal masturbation,
1974, 1986). This, Bick argued, can lead to mobilised as a defence against the experience
pseudo-independence and pseudo-maturity, of separation, dependency and difference.
brittle self-containment replacing appropriate Following this Meltzer emphasises sorting
dependency and identication with a con- out geographical confusions as part of the
taining object (Bick, 1968). This brings the psychoanalytical process (Meltzer, 1967a)
discussion now to Meltzers work. and delineates the geography of the internal
maternal object, a topography necessitated
Meltzerian developments by primitive needs to separate good and bad:
excreta and milk. An initial toilet-breast
Meltzer, when still a candidate, had begun (Meltzer, 1967a) container is succeeded by
to employ the notion of a compartmenta- three delimited spaces, top, front-bottom
lised life-space (Meltzer, 1955), an idea he and back-bottom, corresponding to breast,
subsequently developed with Bick at the genital and rectum (Meltzer, 1967b, p. 68).
Tavistock Clinic (Meltzer & Bick, 1960) into This tripartite distinction becomes an in-
the idea of a geography of object relation- creasingly established phenomenological
ships. Thus they write: feature within Meltzers work over the ensu-
ing thirty years, a particularly vivid descrip-
The geography of the life-space of the child and the tion appearing in his OECD report wherein
unconscious is really in four layers. There is (1) the he writes that:
outside world, (2) the inside of his objects in the outside
world, (3) the inside world, and (4) the inside of his
Because the most common object of such intrusion is
objects in the inside world. In order to understand the
the internal mother, and because her body tends to be
childs material thoroughly, we must distinguish divided into three great regions, three realms of
whether the object relationship we are seeing is going
emotionality of near theological signicance can be
on inside an object or outside it, and whether that eld
seen to emerge distinct from one another: (1) a heaven
of action is in the inner or outer world (Meltzer &Bick, of bliss inside the breasts; (2) a garden of sexuality and
1960, pp. 39 40).
reproduction in her genitals; and (3) a most attractive
hell of perversity and sado-masochism in her rectum
Later, Meltzer (1976) would add a fth layer (Meltzer &Harris, 1976, p. 408).
to this geography: the no-where of ther de-
lusional system. Using these layers Meltzer Despite these attractions, exiting the
and Bick proceed to describe how intellec- claustrum is possible given a favourable
tual inhibition and claustrophobic anxieties cost-benet balance between intra- and
can present consequent to object relating via extra-claustral life and at least one person
total projective identication (see, for exam- interested enough to seek him out in his
ple, Meltzer & Bick, 1960, pp. 49, 73 and claustrum (Meltzer &Harris, 1976, p. 408).
74). In introducing the term claustrum into
In his subsequent writings Meltzer pro- his own writings, apparently initially in his
gressively built on these foundations, elabor- essay on Pinters The Birthday Party (Melt-
ating the nature of life-spaces, particularly zer, 1971), Meltzer depicts it as a refuge for
inside the internal object, as predominantly infantile parts of the personality from mental
occurring during borderline psychotic states. pain and individuation. Entry therein, via
Key in this development is his 1965 Amster- intrusive projective identication, is the
dam Congress paper (Meltzer, 1966) in negative of birth, and leaves the self
which Meltzer describes how pseudo matur- sequestered from life and help and poten-
ity can originate from infantile projective tially prone to recruitment and corruption by
926 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
delusional and destructive forces; dynamics by stealth, violence or trickery. Thus he omits
reminiscent of the rather more structured discussion of object penetration occurring
pathological organisations, elegantly concep- through passive induction; conceptualisa-
tualised elsewhere by Rosenfeld (1971) and tions of the objects interior achieved through
Steiner (1993) amongst others. non-intrusive imagination; and knowledge
Meltzers source of the term claustrum attained through object relations based on
was, I suggest, Esther Bick, who was deeply consensual mutuality entailing respect for
inuential on his thinking, although he does the objects essential privacy. The intrusive-
not recall her use of this term (Meltzer, ness entails both the identicatory and pro-
personal communication, 14 September jective (and hence claustrophobic) aspects of
2000). Their close collaboration and the claustral life and renders it inimical to
structural similarities between their uses of development. Externally perceived by the
the concept suggest a probable line of infantile self as desirable habitations, claus-
(unconscious) intellectual inuence that fa- tra become, when intrusively entered, prisons
cilitated Meltzers serious development of of one sort or another. The external percep-
the concept. An auxiliary link in this intellec- tion when compared to the internal experi-
tual history is Martha Harris, who was ential realisation appears a profound
closely associated with both Bick and Melt- misrecognition (Money-Kyrle, 1968), which
zer. Harris describes one of her patients as continues narcissistically in the self s depres-
having a fear of the analysis as a claustrum, sive failure to own its original intrusiveness.
the dreaded interior of the mothers body (c. This failure of insight (Bion, 1961, p. 149)
1960, p. 86). Harris probably derived this then characterises intra-claustral life, as does
idea from her senior colleague s previous a profound sense of hopelessness about
paper, while her own is likely to have been development, real relationships based on
read by Meltzer. sincerity, love and mutuality, and anything
During the 1970s Meltzer and various other than better accommodation to one s
colleagues working with autistic children claustrum within the treatment context.
highlighted the importance of dimensionality Comfort, erotic pleasure and survival dom-
in mental functioning, depth being a pre- inate the head-breast, genital and rectum
requisite for whole objects, containment and claustra value systems respectively, with
effective projective identication (Meltzer et compensatory satisfactions gleaned from a
al., 1975). Without a three-dimensional fragile grandiosity (derived from the identi-
object-container or where this is impaired, catory elements of projective identication)
mindlessness (as in Meltzers account of and narcissistic arrogance in the achieve-
autism) or at least shallowness is pervasive. ments of fraud and dissimulation. All three
What relating there is utilises mechanisms claustra are internally experienced as inher-
such as adhesive identication; a defensive ently stratied, hierarchical and political;
clinging on to the outer surfaces of objects dominated by a culture predicated on immu-
(Meltzer, 1974; Bick, 1986). table notions of status, conservatism, conven-
The publication of The Claustrum in 1992 tion and political correctness; and are
represented a state-of-the-nation account of alienating of both self and others within the
Meltzers work on the phenomena. Donald McCarthyite hegemony. Becoming a member
Meltzer himself said that this book was the of the party offers would-be acolytes an
crowning achievement of my professional illusion of security through lieutenancy, such
life (1996). Meltzer recapitulates that his participation strengthening the secretiveness
primary focus is on the claustrum and the that conceals not only the ambition but also
essentially infantile parts of the personality the profound cynicism and contempt entailed
that have intrusively penetrated it, whether in claustral states of mind.
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 927
Despite hierarchical arrangement the by being named and thus contained and then
claustral compartments retain connections reinternalised by the infant (Segal, 1978).
that permit inter-claustral movement. This in This experience aids secure internalisation of
turn offers a degree of relative respite, a benign meaning generating breast contain-
echoing Gehl (1964), from painful intra- er, strengthens the capacity for abstract or
claustral states and the primary anxiety of symbolic thought and increases tolerance of
ejection via anal expulsion: a nameless dread frustration (Bion, 1962a). With this achieve-
of evacuation into a delusional no-where ment a third position and triangular space
replete with bizarre objects. This fate appears can develop (Britton, 1989, 1998). This
a possibility for all claustral dwellers, irre- involves perception of the link between the
spective of what compartment they inhabit, parental couple and leads to gratitude, re-
for, as Meltzer makes clear, there is a paration and a working through of the inter-
perilously slippery chute from head to rec- twined dynamics of the depressive position
tum as voluptuousness leads to eroticism and and the Oedipus complex (Segal, 1978,
on to sado-masochism (1992, p. 91). Claus- 1997; Britton, 1989). Where the
tral inhabitation thus inevitably gravitates containment-symbolisation process falters
towards the lowest compartment: the mater- however, feelings of deprivation together
nal rectum in which existence is dominated with intolerance of frustration may precipi-
by a primitive survivalist mentality. tate frantic or hostile intrusive identication
into an insecurely established primary object.
If this is met with a rejecting or non-
Claustrum and container: two sides metabolising response by the object increas-
of a coin ing intrusive identication results in concre-
teness (Segal, 1978). The claustrum thus
In now turning to consider the relationship results from a primary object perceived as
between the claustrum and the container I frustrating and hostile although necessary for
want to here return to the feature I initially survival in relation with a primitive self
highlighted, namely the concrete abstract dominated by its own fear and intrusive
dimension. The link here deliberately re- aggression.
ects Bions (1963) own PS D and On this basis I suggest that the container
container contained formulation and re- and the claustrum are both intimately related,
lates more specically to his description of at a conceptual level and as instantiated
innate preconceptions. The container, as a within any given subject. Together they
preconception (row D on Bions grid), may conceptually represent realisations of Bions
grow either in the direction of naivety or of Platonist-Kantian preconception-of-the-
sophistication (Bion, 1963, p. 96) towards container, two sides of a coin (plus and minus
the more concrete (row C on the grid) or the K), one inclined towards the depressive
more abstract (say, grid row G). Such growth, position, the other towards the paranoid-
dependent on the environmental realisations schizoid position. More abstract symbolism
actually encountered and the nature of the and primitive concreteness typify the respec-
dynamic links L, H and K between the innate tive positions and predispose the container
preconception and its realisation, may lead, I and claustrum to either secure dependency
suggest, for a given individual to a concep- leading to increased inner freedom or phobic
tion of either a claustrum (grid row C) or a insecurity (separation anxiety). This process
container (grid row E or higher). is exacerbated by the dominance of minus K
Considered from the vertex of symbolisa- in the claustrum (unlike in the container),
tion this optimally entails primitive inchoate which strips experience of meaning, a dis-
feelings being taken in by the mother, bound mantling to which the object contributes.
928 ROGERWILLOUGHBY
With its sinister yet alluring nature, I propose tending this, I suggest the ego-psychology
that the claustrum is the containers Gothic and Kleinian views of the claustrums struc-
avatar, a negative incarnation of a transcen- ture approach each other. Thus the symmetry
dent form, Bions preconception of the between the oral, anal and phallic stages of
container. the former (Ostow, 1955; Gehl, 1964) and
the latters head-breast, rectum and genital
compartmentalisation (Meltzer, 1992; Bick,
Conclusion 2001) offers an opportunity for a creative
hermeneutic endeavour. More importantly, it
Contemporary psychoanalysis encom- is with the development of such a transitional
passes a diversity of schools, each with its working space within the clinical context,
own burgeoning body of theory and terminol- combined with an appreciation of the ways in
ogy, raising risks of communicative fragmen- which this may be delimited, that will aid our
tation. Within this however, certain psychoanalytic understanding and offer as-
phenomena, such as the body, its contents and sistance to those trapped within the claus-
processes (whether as physical entities, or as trum in moving towards mourning and a life
objects of the imagination or of unconscious without fear.
phantasy), constitute enduring common
ground. As the concept of the claustrum, a Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Liane
satisfying castrating entity, developed Aukin, Bob Hinshelwood, Donald Meltzer,
from this, the focus ranged from the concrete Anne Reilly, Janet Sayers and Paul Williams
physical body to the immaterial psychologi- for their comments on an earlier version of
cal object body. Similarly, its integral link this paper.
with psychopathology has been wide ranging,
from ego-psychologys predominant concen-
tration on phallic and phobic states in the Translations of summary
normalneurotic character to its deployment
among some Kleinians as a tool to conceptua- Lauteur traite le claustrum comme un aspect de la
lise borderline psychosis. Claustrophobia, capacite de contenir pathologique au sein de l espace
interne et son rapport avec le concept de contenant-
however, has remained a common feature of contenu de Bion (1962a, 1962b). Lauteur, apre`s avoir
the claustrum across this theoretical, clinical souligne les premie`res fondations conceptuelles psy-
and political diversity, a feature signicantly chanalytiques de la claustrophobie et du claustrum,
consolidated by the evolving differentiation retrace le terme depuis son introduction par Erikson en
1937 et a` travers ses trajectoires developpementales
of the claustrum as the shadow of the divergentes au sein du vocabulaire conceptuel des
container. From very different perspectives ecoles kleiniennes, Independantes et classiques, jus-
Gehl (1964) and Segal (1997) both emphasise quau developpement contemporain de Meltzer (1992).
this primitive fear-driven need for a dun- Les vicissitudes de la transmission des idees au sein de
ces groupes, ainsi quentre ceux ci sont decrites, le
geon into which incorrigible badness and travail de Esther Bick etant particulie`rement mis en
split-off hostility may be projected, isolating evidence pour exemplier une inuence intellectuelle
it from the corrigible reciprocal within the nodale. Lauteur traite de lespace claustrale au sein du
good container breast. corps de lobjet interne ou physique, sa structuralisa-
tion interne, et les deteriorations de la qualite de la vie
These two phantasy structures I believe are psychique du self qui cherche a` habiter de tels espaces,
inter-linked, just as Laplanche and Pontalis au moyen didentication projective importune. Il
argue that despite differences unconscious examine les manifestations developpementales et psy-
and conscious modes of phantasy seem chopathologiques du claustrum, plus particulie`rement
la peur, la separation, les proble`mes du deuil et la
to join up, or at least to be linked internally claustrophobie. Lauteur propose enn un rapport
to each otherthey appear, as it were, to reciproque et hierarchique de lavatar entre le claus-
symbolise each other (1973, p. 316). Ex- trum et le contenant.
THE DUNGEON OF THYSELF 929
Der Autor diskutiert das Klaustrum als einen Aspekt El autor discute el claustrum en tanto que aspecto de
pathologischen Containments innerhalb des inneren la contencion patologica dentro del espacio interior, y
Raums und seine Beziehung zu Bions (1962a, 1962b) su relacio n con el concepto de lo que contiene y lo
Container-Contained-Konzept. Er stellt zunachst die contenido, de Bion (1962a,b). Despues de delinear los
fruhen psychoanalytischen konzeptuellen Grundlagen fundamentos conceptuales del principio del psicoana-
von Klaustrophobie und Klaustrum dar und verfolgt lisis sobre la claustrofobia y el claustrum, el autor hace
sodann den Begriff von seiner Einfuhrung durch un seguimiento del termino, partiendo de su introduc-
Erikson 1937 durch seine unterschiedlichen Entwick- cion por Erikson en 1937, observando sus divergentes
lungslinien innerhalb des konzeptuellen Vokabulars der trayectorias de desarrollo dentro del vocabulario con-
klassischen, unabhangigen und Kleinianischen Schule ceptual de las escuelas clasica, Independiente y
bis hin zu Meltzers (1992) heutiger Neubearbeitung. kleiniana, y llegando a la re-elaboracion contempor-
Die Schicksale der Weitergabe von Ideen innerhalb und anea de Meltzer (1992). Se hace enfasis en las
zwischen diesen Gruppen wird betont, wobei Esther vicisitudes de la transmisio n de ideas dentro de y entre
Bicks Werk als Beispiel eines Knotenpunkts intellek- estos grupos, con atencion particular al trabajo de
tuellen Einusses besonders hervorgehoben wird. Der Esther Bick, como ejemplo de una inuencia intelec-
Raum des Klaustrums innerhalb des korperlichen und tual nodal. El espacio claustral dentro del cuerpo
inneren Objektkorpers, seine innere Strukturalisierung objetal fsico o interno, su estructuralizacio n interna, y
und die Verschlechterungen in der Qualitat seelischen el menoscabo en la calidad de vida ps quica de los
Lebens des Selbst, das solch einen Raum durch seres que buscan habitar tales espacios, a los que se
projektive Identikation betritt und zu bewohnen ver- ingresa mediante la identicacio n intrusa proyectiva,
sucht, werden dargestellt. Manifestationen des Klaus- reciben especial atencion. Las manifestaciones de
trums in Entwicklung und Psychopathologie werden claustrum en el desarrollo y la sicopatologa, se
diskutiert, insbesondere Furcht, Trennung, Probleme discuten, en particular el miedo, la separacio n, el duelo
im Trauern und Klaustrophobie. Es wird eine reziproke sobre problemas y la claustrofobia. Se propone una
und hierarchische Beziehung zwischen dem Klaustrum relacio n de avatar rec proca y jerarquica entre el
und den Container vorgeschlagen. claustrum y el contenedor.

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Roger Willoughby Copyright Institute of Psychoanalysis, London, 2001


8 Castle Hill Avenue
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(Initial version received 6/12/00)
(Final version received 25/4/01)

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