ABSTRACT
Examination of the modularity of psychic function in the light of today's knowledge and its consequences for therapeutic change is the theme of this chapter. The chapter reviews: modularity of the unconscious; and modularity of motivational systems and the mutual transformations they produce. It shows how a modular-transformational approach to study of the psyche facilitates thinking in terms of differentiated and specific therapeutic interventions for what we intend to modify. The chapter examines the complexity of unconscious phenomena from the perspective of: a, their origins, forms of inscription and processing; and b, levels of activation of unconscious contents. Motivational systems have interactive effects on each other. For example, the narcissistic system can trigger sexuality, so that sexuality loses its nature as purely urge-driven pleasure and becomes over-signified as an expression of the subject's potency.
