ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a set of unconscious, pathological internal object relations in which misrecognitions of affect play a central role. The “misrecognitions” that are used as defenses against the fear of not knowing represent a less extreme form of alienation from affective experience than “alex-ithymia”, states of “non-experience”, and “disaffected” states, wherein potential feelings and phantasies are foreclosed from the psychological sphere. The development of the idea of misrecognitions of one’s internal state is in a sense synonymous with the development of psychoanalytic theory. One of the cornerstones upon which Sigmund Freud constructed his theory of psychological meanings is the idea that one knows more than he thinks he knows. The creation of psychological defenses can be understood as the organization of systematic misrecognitions. Freud, in his discussion of the Schreber case, explored the idea that psychosis involves the misrecognition of one’s internal state through its attribution to external objects.
