3. Changing Patterns in Parenting:
Comments on the Sources of Unmodified
Grandiosity in Children
Presenter:
Anna Ornstein, MD
Chair and Discussant:
Morton Shane, MD
Self Psychology Page | 20th Conference Program
Summary
In this paper, I am addressing a particular form of parental dysfunction which is not related to neglect, abuse or the child being exploited emotionally to keep a fragmentation-prone parent functional. Rather, the dysfunction is related to the parents’ anxiety not to deprive their children in any way and not ever to expose them to frustration. This particular parental dysfunction (occurring most frequently in middle-class and affluent families) interferes with the developmentally needed idealization of the caretaker. With the help of a clinical vignette, I shall explicate the adverse consequences to the lack of idealization, specifically, how this effects the transformation of infantile grandiosity.