I have been recently reading a book called Ideas in Psychoanalysis: Phantasy written by Julia Segal. The book explains in a relatively simple way about the concept of 'Phantasy' and why/how it exists. I have found this theory to be very relevant to my own work because it describes the inner fantasies of the mind which find their way out through our everyday lives. There is, of course, a reason I am drawn to the type of art that I am. I can hazard a guess at why - I like escapism and I always have done due to be bullied for 8 years at school. But I will never know the true reason because that lies deep within my mind, not accessible to even myself.
A fantasy is conscious whereas a phantasy is not - we do not even know we are having them. We cannot control them.
I will quote some extracts and interesting sections of the book below to highlight my findings.
"The concept of phantasy is a tool which allows for quite subtle and complex understanding of behaviour and feelings, even though many of its ideas might initially be ridiculous" (page 3)- This helps explain why the theory of phantasy exists while also acknowledging that it does sound a bit daft. This is actually rather reassuring to me, as somebody who doesn't get or understand a lot of psychoanalysis - it feels as if the author understands it can be overwhelming and sound completely made up.
"Daydreams are conscious and we can probably choose to have them or not. But less conscious fantasies go on without our awareness" (page 8)
- This explains why this discussion is needed and what it is about. Comparing the idea of unconscious fantasies to daydreams makes the idea more accessible to people not familiar with psychoanalysis, like me.
"The concrete images are phantasies, woven together to represent and express anxieties and needs ... phantasies ... are actions as well as causing actions" (page 9)
- Phantasies use your everyday life to create and become actions without you even knowing that decision is being made. A song may get stuck in your head because of a series of events that have happened - some you may not even be aware of - some may be metaphors for other things, and you have no idea why. They can make you do things or refrain from doing things.
(on interpreting other people around us) "In these interpretations we are trying to make sense of our own and other people's behaviour and feelings; the construction we put on them involves some kind of phantasy ... the phantasy involves motivations and often predictions for future expectations" (page 13)
- Example of how phantasy is used helps me get my head around the concept. Segal is explaining that even upon meeting people we try to make sense of them which includes phantasy. For example, if I were to meet a woman with a cold, as Segal uses this as explanation, we I may wonder or predict how or why she got the cold and how it will affect her in the future. It's not a daydream as such, but it's a part of the process of the mind while seeing or discussing a topic.
"Phantasies serve to contain anxieties by giving us explanations, often based on little evidence" (page 14)
- This again gives the notion of 'phantasy' another role and helps me understand how and when we use them. I find this particular statement rather interesting because it seems as if these phantasies are helping us cope with the world - a coping mechanism from part of ourselves (our anxieties).
"Freud discovered phantasies where he began trying to understand various symptoms as a neurologist ... realisation that ideas and thoughts could control the body in a way which was completely unconscious" (page 16)
- The origin of Phantasy came from Freud. I already knew this and sought out this book to help me further understand it. Segal explains that Freud discovered that the mind could control the body. Past experiences and anxieties had physical effects on people and they had no idea they were even going through anything mentally. Segal mentions that this first came to realisation when Freud had a patient who had a completely numb leg and a loss of movement, but once he had explained to the patient what was going through her mind and the unconscious became conscious she began to get feeling back in her leg. The unconscious in this case had memories to do with her touching her father's leg as he died that had been haunting her.
"He found young girls with fantasies of having sex with their fathers and young men with fantasies of having sex with their mothers. Both sexes also had fantasies of killing their parents" (page 17)
- This links Freud's Oedipus theory that I have already been researching with phantasy.
"Freud thought we symbolised only things which we did not want to know about, which were repressed, and that came out in symptoms... But Freud saw ... other symbols as existing in a world of more neutral objects which had no particular psychic significance." (page 23)
- As I mentioned before, it appears that we use phantasy as a kind of shield from our anxieties. This is however, untrue, and while they may protect us, they are also influenced by the things in our lies that have almost no relevance or impact to us at all. Our minds seem to just absorb information from the world around us and interpret it within Phantasy.
"In phantasy all kinds of things are going on, in our heads, in our bodies and in our 'inner world'." (page 30)
- Phantasy is not simply just mental. As discussed with Freud's patient, Phantasy affects our minds and our bodies and our world of thought. There is no escape from them because they are a part of us.
"Klein discovered that phantasies provide basic tools we use to make sense of our perceptions ... They create the basic assumptions we use to live by; affecting not just disturbed behaviour but also ordinary, everyday behaviour" (page 31)
- Phantasy therefore is the basis of how we see the world and react to it. All of our actions are informed by our phantasies without us even being aware of this. My choices of what to put into my shoots are informed by my phantasies without me knowing why. My style of work and the emotions I want to emit through it - inspired and controlled by my phantasy.
"Phantasies also motivate perception, seeking confirmation of our goodness or badness, we find people and situations which will tell us we are good or bad" (page 31)
- We use phantasies to understand our own place in the world and make sense of our actions and what we should or shouldn't be doing. It's really interesting to find out that so much of our lives is controlled by our subconscious and we cannot have any say in it. I think that if this statement is true then society's opinions are taken in my the subconcious and within our phantasies are revealed - as it is society that has told us all our lives of what is acceptable and what is not, and what is or is not is always evolving.
"Work is motivated as much by unconscious phantasies about making the world better as by the more conscious ones of needing the money" (page 31)
- I would have thought this would depend on the job and if you are happy within your workplace. This statement suggests that we work not only for the money - a conscious need and necessity, but because we want to improve on the world.
"Even conscious motivations have unconscious roots" (page 31)
- This is a really interesting idea that shows the power of the unconscious and how if affects our lives. We may not always know the reason we are doing something. For example with my first shoot I really liked the way that it showed escapism however I am sure that there is more reasoning to that that I haven't even thought of because the decision and motivation was caused by my phantasies.
"The most primitive phantasies, we think, are there at birth" (page 36)
- For example, when a baby tries to find the nipple in order to feed, the baby just knows what to do from the moment it's born. Later, Segal notes that "The experience of being fed then modifies this phantasy, explaining how after the first feed the baby will associate being fed with particularly his mother. But it also suggests that these phantasies are forever evolving - after all adults do not think of the nipple when they're hungry.
"Klein believed that our relations to the truth was vitally important, She found that even uncomfortable reality was in the long term preferable to trying to live an illusory phantasy-world; the phantasies we use to confuse ourselves, to pretend the world is closer to our wishes than it really is, were all damaging one way or another" (page 43)
- I have to agree with this, despite it going against my own imagery. But in every day life I think it's important for us to be aware of the world and not try to fool ourselves about the cruelty of the world. Yet, I am guilty of this, and perhaps everybody is on some level; I know the dairy industry is cruel so I drink oat milk, yet I still eat cheese. I know Primark is renowned for child labourers yet my own budget means I still shop there. But I also believe the little things we notice and we try to change matter, and we can't all be perfect but if everybody sheds awareness and helps in some area and not others, the world will benefit greatly, and therefore the person themselves will also benefit.
"Many people disagree with Klein about this, claiming illusion can be better in many ways than reality" (page 43)
- And to some extent, I agree. If you immerse yourself in soaps, films, books or whatever it can be so incredibly relieving to be taken away from reality, which is the purpose of me creating fantasy imagery. However, I think one must be conscious that this fictional world is a temporary location for the mind to reside in, and being aware of the troubles in the real world is still essential. To turn a blind eye to all of the troubles would be to unknowingly help destroy the world.
Overall, this book has been extremely helpful for me to understand the mind and how we have phantasies. It's really interesting for me to realise that everything I do is because of phantasy - my imagery, my choices, my wording, my actions. Phantasy is a part of us, present since birth and evolving as we age. My need for fantasy comes from my phantasy.
A fantasy is conscious whereas a phantasy is not - we do not even know we are having them. We cannot control them.
I will quote some extracts and interesting sections of the book below to highlight my findings.
"The concept of phantasy is a tool which allows for quite subtle and complex understanding of behaviour and feelings, even though many of its ideas might initially be ridiculous" (page 3)- This helps explain why the theory of phantasy exists while also acknowledging that it does sound a bit daft. This is actually rather reassuring to me, as somebody who doesn't get or understand a lot of psychoanalysis - it feels as if the author understands it can be overwhelming and sound completely made up.
"Daydreams are conscious and we can probably choose to have them or not. But less conscious fantasies go on without our awareness" (page 8)
- This explains why this discussion is needed and what it is about. Comparing the idea of unconscious fantasies to daydreams makes the idea more accessible to people not familiar with psychoanalysis, like me.
"The concrete images are phantasies, woven together to represent and express anxieties and needs ... phantasies ... are actions as well as causing actions" (page 9)
- Phantasies use your everyday life to create and become actions without you even knowing that decision is being made. A song may get stuck in your head because of a series of events that have happened - some you may not even be aware of - some may be metaphors for other things, and you have no idea why. They can make you do things or refrain from doing things.
(on interpreting other people around us) "In these interpretations we are trying to make sense of our own and other people's behaviour and feelings; the construction we put on them involves some kind of phantasy ... the phantasy involves motivations and often predictions for future expectations" (page 13)
- Example of how phantasy is used helps me get my head around the concept. Segal is explaining that even upon meeting people we try to make sense of them which includes phantasy. For example, if I were to meet a woman with a cold, as Segal uses this as explanation, we I may wonder or predict how or why she got the cold and how it will affect her in the future. It's not a daydream as such, but it's a part of the process of the mind while seeing or discussing a topic.
"Phantasies serve to contain anxieties by giving us explanations, often based on little evidence" (page 14)
- This again gives the notion of 'phantasy' another role and helps me understand how and when we use them. I find this particular statement rather interesting because it seems as if these phantasies are helping us cope with the world - a coping mechanism from part of ourselves (our anxieties).
"Freud discovered phantasies where he began trying to understand various symptoms as a neurologist ... realisation that ideas and thoughts could control the body in a way which was completely unconscious" (page 16)
- The origin of Phantasy came from Freud. I already knew this and sought out this book to help me further understand it. Segal explains that Freud discovered that the mind could control the body. Past experiences and anxieties had physical effects on people and they had no idea they were even going through anything mentally. Segal mentions that this first came to realisation when Freud had a patient who had a completely numb leg and a loss of movement, but once he had explained to the patient what was going through her mind and the unconscious became conscious she began to get feeling back in her leg. The unconscious in this case had memories to do with her touching her father's leg as he died that had been haunting her.
"He found young girls with fantasies of having sex with their fathers and young men with fantasies of having sex with their mothers. Both sexes also had fantasies of killing their parents" (page 17)
- This links Freud's Oedipus theory that I have already been researching with phantasy.
"Freud thought we symbolised only things which we did not want to know about, which were repressed, and that came out in symptoms... But Freud saw ... other symbols as existing in a world of more neutral objects which had no particular psychic significance." (page 23)
- As I mentioned before, it appears that we use phantasy as a kind of shield from our anxieties. This is however, untrue, and while they may protect us, they are also influenced by the things in our lies that have almost no relevance or impact to us at all. Our minds seem to just absorb information from the world around us and interpret it within Phantasy.
"In phantasy all kinds of things are going on, in our heads, in our bodies and in our 'inner world'." (page 30)
- Phantasy is not simply just mental. As discussed with Freud's patient, Phantasy affects our minds and our bodies and our world of thought. There is no escape from them because they are a part of us.
"Klein discovered that phantasies provide basic tools we use to make sense of our perceptions ... They create the basic assumptions we use to live by; affecting not just disturbed behaviour but also ordinary, everyday behaviour" (page 31)
- Phantasy therefore is the basis of how we see the world and react to it. All of our actions are informed by our phantasies without us even being aware of this. My choices of what to put into my shoots are informed by my phantasies without me knowing why. My style of work and the emotions I want to emit through it - inspired and controlled by my phantasy.
"Phantasies also motivate perception, seeking confirmation of our goodness or badness, we find people and situations which will tell us we are good or bad" (page 31)
- We use phantasies to understand our own place in the world and make sense of our actions and what we should or shouldn't be doing. It's really interesting to find out that so much of our lives is controlled by our subconscious and we cannot have any say in it. I think that if this statement is true then society's opinions are taken in my the subconcious and within our phantasies are revealed - as it is society that has told us all our lives of what is acceptable and what is not, and what is or is not is always evolving.
"Work is motivated as much by unconscious phantasies about making the world better as by the more conscious ones of needing the money" (page 31)
- I would have thought this would depend on the job and if you are happy within your workplace. This statement suggests that we work not only for the money - a conscious need and necessity, but because we want to improve on the world.
"Even conscious motivations have unconscious roots" (page 31)
- This is a really interesting idea that shows the power of the unconscious and how if affects our lives. We may not always know the reason we are doing something. For example with my first shoot I really liked the way that it showed escapism however I am sure that there is more reasoning to that that I haven't even thought of because the decision and motivation was caused by my phantasies.
"The most primitive phantasies, we think, are there at birth" (page 36)
- For example, when a baby tries to find the nipple in order to feed, the baby just knows what to do from the moment it's born. Later, Segal notes that "The experience of being fed then modifies this phantasy, explaining how after the first feed the baby will associate being fed with particularly his mother. But it also suggests that these phantasies are forever evolving - after all adults do not think of the nipple when they're hungry.
"Klein believed that our relations to the truth was vitally important, She found that even uncomfortable reality was in the long term preferable to trying to live an illusory phantasy-world; the phantasies we use to confuse ourselves, to pretend the world is closer to our wishes than it really is, were all damaging one way or another" (page 43)
- I have to agree with this, despite it going against my own imagery. But in every day life I think it's important for us to be aware of the world and not try to fool ourselves about the cruelty of the world. Yet, I am guilty of this, and perhaps everybody is on some level; I know the dairy industry is cruel so I drink oat milk, yet I still eat cheese. I know Primark is renowned for child labourers yet my own budget means I still shop there. But I also believe the little things we notice and we try to change matter, and we can't all be perfect but if everybody sheds awareness and helps in some area and not others, the world will benefit greatly, and therefore the person themselves will also benefit.
"Many people disagree with Klein about this, claiming illusion can be better in many ways than reality" (page 43)
- And to some extent, I agree. If you immerse yourself in soaps, films, books or whatever it can be so incredibly relieving to be taken away from reality, which is the purpose of me creating fantasy imagery. However, I think one must be conscious that this fictional world is a temporary location for the mind to reside in, and being aware of the troubles in the real world is still essential. To turn a blind eye to all of the troubles would be to unknowingly help destroy the world.
Overall, this book has been extremely helpful for me to understand the mind and how we have phantasies. It's really interesting for me to realise that everything I do is because of phantasy - my imagery, my choices, my wording, my actions. Phantasy is a part of us, present since birth and evolving as we age. My need for fantasy comes from my phantasy.
Phantasy
![Phantasy]()
Reviewed by BethCorbett
on
November 13, 2019
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