Presenter: |
George Hagman, MSW |
Chair: |
Paula B. Fuqua, MD |
Discussant: |
Judith Gillard-Kaufman, PhD |
Self Psychology Page | 20th Conference Program
Summary
This paper discusses the clinical implications of the concept of mature selfobject experience. A number of analysts have asserted that selfobject experience develops on a continuum, the archaic forms centering on the core and emergent sense of self the mature forms uniting an increasingly cohesive , sense of self with a growing recognition of the subjectivity of the other. The paper reviews the concept of mature selfobject experience and offers a broad overview of the impact of psychopathology on mature relating when there may be a moratorium on awareness of the other's subjectivity m favor of more self-centeredness. Several categories of disturbances in mature relating are considered and the problems of neurosis and bereavement are highlighted. In the area of analytic treatment, the development of the transference from the understanding stage to the explaining stage is reviewed, and a reinterpretation of this process as a transition from archaic merger experiences to more mature forms of relating is suggested. The patient's (and analyst's) encounter with truly new and surprising elements of the subjectivity of the other is emphasized.