{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T02:17:58Z","timestamp":1777429078715,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2012,10,4]],"date-time":"2012-10-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1349308800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Am Psychoanal Assoc"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Suffering is commonly seen as an unconscious effort to alleviate painful feelings of guilt. However, suffering also aims at averting loss of ego functions and hence loss of mental stability. This second function of suffering is discussed in the light of Freud\u2019s observations of characters wrecked by success and Weiss\u2019s ideas about mutual love as a threat to mental stability. Hawthorne\u2019s portrayal of Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter (1850), biographical material about the author, material from his diaries, and material from a psychotherapy case and an analysis illustrate the function of suffering to preserve mental stability in the face of heightened success and happiness. Hawthorne, it is argued, intuitively grasped this function of suffering in his novel.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0003065112460576","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,10,5]],"date-time":"2012-10-05T00:37:08Z","timestamp":1349397428000},"page":"1139-1159","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Function of Suffering as Portrayed in\n                    <i>The Scarlet Letter<\/i>\n                    and Reflected in Clinical Work"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"60","author":[{"given":"Diane E.","family":"Donnelly","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2012,10,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0003065112460576","first-page":"45","volume":"18","author":"Arden E.","year":"1961","journal-title":"American Imago"},{"key":"bibr2-0003065112460576","first-page":"136","volume-title":"The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne\u2019s Psychological Themes","author":"Crews F.","year":"1966"},{"key":"bibr3-0003065112460576","first-page":"130","volume":"7","author":"Freud S.","year":"1905","journal-title":"Standard Edition"},{"key":"bibr4-0003065112460576","first-page":"311","volume":"14","author":"Freud S.","year":"1916","journal-title":"Standard Edition"},{"key":"bibr5-0003065112460576","first-page":"159","volume":"19","author":"Freud S.","year":"1924","journal-title":"Standard Edition"},{"key":"bibr6-0003065112460576","volume-title":"The Heart of Hawthorne\u2019s Journals","author":"Hawthorne N.","year":"1835"},{"key":"bibr7-0003065112460576","volume-title":"The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings","author":"Hawthorne N.","year":"1850"},{"key":"bibr8-0003065112460576","first-page":"291","volume":"10","author":"Levi J.","year":"1953","journal-title":"American Imago"},{"key":"bibr9-0003065112460576","first-page":"267","volume-title":"The Scarlet Letter: An Annotated Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Essays in Criticism","author":"Matthiessen F.O.","year":"1941"},{"key":"bibr10-0003065112460576","volume-title":"Salem Is My Dwelling Place","author":"Miller E.H.","year":"1991"},{"key":"bibr11-0003065112460576","first-page":"373","volume":"29","author":"Oberndorf C.P.","year":"1942","journal-title":"Psychoanalytic Review"},{"key":"bibr12-0003065112460576","first-page":"257","volume":"25","author":"Pimple K.D.","year":"1993","journal-title":"Studies in the Novel"},{"key":"bibr13-0003065112460576","first-page":"113","volume":"37","author":"Small M.","year":"1980","journal-title":"American Imago"},{"key":"bibr14-0003065112460576","unstructured":"Weiss J.M. (1989). Gratification contributes to anxiety, resistance in analysis, and mental illness. Unpublished manuscript."},{"key":"bibr15-0003065112460576","unstructured":"Weiss J.M. (1996). Gratification may trigger regression. Unpublished manuscript."},{"key":"bibr16-0003065112460576","first-page":"511","volume":"8","author":"Weiss J.M.","year":"1999","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Psychoanalysis"},{"key":"bibr17-0003065112460576","volume-title":"Paper presented at Western Regional Child Analytic Meeting, San Francisco","author":"Weiss J.M.","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr18-0003065112460576","volume-title":"Hawthorne","author":"Wineapple B.","year":"2003"}],"container-title":["Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0003065112460576","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0003065112460576","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0003065112460576","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T11:37:28Z","timestamp":1777376248000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0003065112460576"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2012,10,4]]},"references-count":18,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0003065112460576"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0003065112460576","relation":{},"ISSN":["0003-0651","1941-2460"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0003-0651","type":"print"},{"value":"1941-2460","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2012,10,4]]}}}