This literature review concerning the topic of after death communication addresses the following areas relevant to this study: object relations and self-psychology; psychophysiological effects of PTSD; the physiology of memory; energy movement; and summary and conclusions.
Object Relations and Self-Psychology
Object relations theories developed from ego psychology. Freud presented the notion that human beings are driven by sexual and aggressive drives and mental conflict results from thwarted expression of these basic drives. This conflict is associated with anxiety or depression. For Freud, ego developed from drive frustration. Freud used the term object referring to that which satisfies a need or the significant person that is the target of another's feelings or drives. Freud used this term within the context of the mother-child relationship but also used it in terms of instinctual drives (id). This differs from the term object relations, which refers to an interpersonal relationship (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001; St. Clair, 2000; Summers, 1994).
Ego psychologists went beyond the study of the id to understand the development to the ego, pointing out that mechanisms such as motility, memory, and perception were not developed out of a frustrated id. These functions were developed separately and integrated to form ego autonomy. While ego psychologists agreed that libidinal frustration may organize ego, aggression was considered to be more significant in ego development. Object relations theory supports the notion that aggression can disrupt the organism, making object relations impossible in some cases, which leads to a schizophrenic process (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001; Summers, 1994).
St. Clair (2000) reported that object relations, refers to interpersonal relationships. The term "object" refers to significant others or the object of another's feelings. Object relations theory explores the early formation of the...