Presenter: |
Bruce Herzog, BA, MD, FRCP(C) |
Chair: |
Marian Tolpin, MD |
Discussant: |
Jackie J. Gotthold, PsyD |
Self Psychology Page | 20th Conference Program
Summary
This paper contends that need to share one's experience and it's associated affect with another is a universal human requirement, crucial both in development and in adult life. It has manifestations in the treatment setting, and may constitute a distinct selfobject transference, requiring a specific response from the therapist.
Patients may inform the therapist of their need to share affect in one of two ways: either by means of 1) descriptive sharing, involving the description of evocative memories intended to convey a past affective experience to the therapist, or by 2) active sharing, when an attempt is made by the patient to engage the therapist in a shared activity, leading to a particular form of enactment where a mutual experience and affective state are shared. In either case, the need to share affect is operative, and can be responded to directly or interpreted. This leads to the recommendation that the therapist who is in empathic resonance with his patient may consider communicating this to his patient as an optimal response to a "sharing" selfobject need.
Two brief case examples are presented to demonstrate how this kind of response can result in a corrective selfobject experience for the patient. Thus the concept of a "sharing" selfobject supports the notion that the empathic connection between the patient and his therapist has a place within self-psychological theory as a structure-building, therapeutic event.