The Synthesis of Self

A psychoanalyst, through training and experience, directs the en­ tire focus of his attention to registering and internalizing the in­ put of a patient's communications, listening intently for their implied meanings. It is only by umaveling the mysteries of an un­ conscious realm of mental activity that it becomes possible to fully comprehend the way in which mental productions are finally ob­ servable. The psychoanalyst's total personality is the listening in­ strument, and the messages emanating from this hidden sector most clearly heard, deciphered, and understood are those most resonant with the contents of the psychoanalyst's unconscious. It is probable that a variety of psychoanalysts adopting a listening posture with a given patient would hear and understand a mul­ tiplicity of different meanings. Over the years, sensitive, well­ trained psychoanalytic investigators have formulated concepts con­ cerning mental functioning from disparate and often opposing points of view. These contradictory ideas are offered from a ba­ sic theoretical foundation placing unconscious mental events as the most important force shaping human experience. Divergent opin­ ions may at times appear irreconcilable and then serve as the grounds for developing a separate psychoanalytic school of thought. It is not surprising that an exploration of unseen powerful and regressive forces, by a group of scientists with unique in­ dividual experiences, would yield insights sensitively attuned to a wide variety of important factors determining human develop­ ment and behavior.

1. Body Ego Experience and the Nuclear Self: The Onset of Unconscious Perception.- Clinical Material.- The Effect of Empathic Responsiveness and Empathic Failures upon Unconscious Perceptions.- The Nuclear Self—A Definition.- The Background Object of Primary Identification and Its Significance for the Nuclear Self.- Qualities of Goodness and Badness and Their Representation in the Nuclear Self.- The Part Self-Representations of Goodness.- The Part Self-Representations of Badness.- The Consolidation of the Representations of the Self and the Development of Consensual Validation.- Splitting as a Translocation of Perception.- The Self with Object Qualities and the Object with Self-Qualities.- Discussion.- 2. The Qualities of Perceptual Experience and Object Impressions: The Self- and Object Representational Systems.- Clinical Material.- The Conditions for Establishing a System of Object Representations.- The Initial Object Impressions and Their Further Representation.- The Representations of the Good Object.- The Representations of the Bad Object.- The Interrelationship of the Self- and Object Representational Systems.- The Process of Separation-Individuation.- The “Bipolar” Self: The Introjective and Projective Arms of Perception.- Discussion.- 3. Libido as Object Seeking and the Mechanism of Splitting: An Integration of Libidinal and Object Relations Theory.- Clinical Material.- The Nature of Perceptual Activity in the Nuclear State.- The Original Object for Libidinal Representation.- The Developmental Significance of Splitting.- The Foundation for Processes of Internalization and the Relationship to Splitting.- Libido as Object Seeking.- Discussion.- 4. Separation-Individuation: The Formation of New Psychic Structures.- Clinical Material.- Preparing for Separation-Individuation: The Healing of Splits within the Ego and the Consolidation of Object Impressions.- The Object Representational System.- The Process of Separation-Individuation: The Development of the Eye of Consciousness and the Function of Self-Observation.- The Development of the First Fixation Point.- The Formation of New Structure.- The Interrelationship between Perception and Structure Formation.- Discussion.- 5. The Onset of Cohesiveness: The Formationand Function of the Grandiose Self and the Ego Ideal.- Clinical Material.- The Self with Object Qualities.- The Object with Self-Qualities.- The Expansion of the Self- and Object Representations into Functional Systems.- The Formation of the First Fixation Point: The Onset of Cohesiveness.- The Formation of Unifying and Differentiating Structures: The Grandiose Self and Ego Ideal.- The Formation of Perceptual Boundaries within the Self: The Superego Eye.- A Brief Look to the Future: The Relationship of Cohesiveness to the Oedipal Conflict.- Discussion.- 6. The Pregenital Phases of Psychosexual Development: The Evolution of Focused Perceptual Functions and Boundaries and the Preconditions forthe Establishment of an Oedipal Conflict.- Clinical Material.- The Self-System of Representation in the Pregenital Phases of Psychosexual Development.- The Whole Good Self.- The Whole Bad Self.- The Object System of Representations in the Pregenital Phases of Psychosexual Development.- The Whole Good Object.- The Whole Bad Object.- The Influence of Varied Objects.- The Original Transitional Object and the Creation of Transitional Space.- The Evolution of Varied Systems of Consciousness.- The Emergence of Repression Proper as the Primary Defense of the Ego.- The Structure and Significance of Castration Anxiety.- The Preconditions Necessary for the Elaboration of an Oedipal Conflict.- An Introduction to the Organizing Influence of the Genital Oedipal Constellation and Its Resolution.- Discussion.- 7. The Oedipal Conflict as a Psychic Organizer.- Clinical Material.- The Shift from Narcissism to Object Relatedness.- The Relationship of Castration Anxiety to the Emerging Oedipal Constellation.- The Oedipal Situation.- The Relationship to the Systems of Consciousness.- The Effect upon the Self- and Object Representational Systems.- The New Structures Formed by the Oedipal Conflict.- The Pathway of Integration.- The New Boundary for the Unconscious System.- The New Defensive Unions.- The Oedipal Conflict in Males and Females.- The Male Oedipal Constellation.- The Female Oedipal Constellation.- The Significance of Object-Related Perceptions.- Discussion.- 8. The Resolution of the Oedipal Conflict: The Consolidation of the Superego into an Independently Functioning Agency and the Process of Alteration inthe Fixation Points.- Clinical Material.- The Structural Precursors of the Superego: Negotiating the Shift from Narcissism to Object Relatedness.- The Polarization of Superego Functions: Splits in the Superego.- The Integration of Superego Functions: The Healing of Superego Splits.- Changes in the Fixation Points with Resolution of the Oedipal Conflict.- The Fixation Point on the Projective Arm of Perception: The Process of Depersonification.- The Fixation Point on the Introjective Arm of Perception: The Process of Integration.- The Relationship of the Consolidated Superego to Its Structural Precursors and the Functional Systems of Representation.- The Grandiose Self.- The Structure of the Ego Ideal.- Castration Anxiety: The Lines of Continuity of Experience.- The Emergence of Repression Proper as the Major Ego Defense.- The Functional Systems of Representation.- The Good Self.- The Good Object.- The Bad Self.- The Bad Object.- Superego Regulation of the Pathway of Instinctual Integration.- Discussion.- 9. Significance of the Latency Period.- Clinical Material.- The Developmental Tasks of Latency.- The Significance of the Points of Fixation.- The Significance of the Organizing Function of the Oedipal Conflict.- The Significance of the Healing of Superego Splits.- The Significance of Alterations in the Fixation Points.- Discussion.- 10. Pubescence: Relinquishing the Attachment to Primary Infantile Objects and Their Replacement with New Objects.- Clinical Material.- The Landmarks of Pubescence in Boys and Girls: The First Ejaculatory Experience and the Menarche.- The Grandiose Self and Ego Ideal in Pubescence.- The Conditions for Replacement of Infantile Attachments to an Object.- The Process of Replacement of the Representations of Infantile Objects.- The Readiness for Genital Discharge: A Structured, Regulated Pathway for Instinctual Integration.- The Relationship of the Fixation Points to the Conflict-Free Sphere.- Pubescence: A New Period of Separation-Individuation.- Discussion.- 11. The Final Step to Maturity: The Genital Character.- Clinical Material.- The Pregenital Attachments to an Object and the Conditions Necessary for Their Replacement.- Replacing the Infantile Representations of an Object.- The Conflict-Free Sphere of Ego Functions in the Genital Character.- The Processes of Work, Play, and Love in the Genital Character and the Activities That Sustain Them.- Discussion.- References.