Presenter: |
Doris Brothers, PhD
|
Chair: |
Paul H. Tolpin, MD |
Discussant: |
Henry J. Friedman, MD |
Self Psychology Page | 20th Conference Program
Summary
In contrast to the traditional psychoanalytic preoccupation with psychopathology, Kohut's radical and transformative conception of self-experience emphasizes the individual's healthy developmental strivings. Concomitantly, self-psychological treatment focuses on what M. Tolpin calls "the forward edge," i.e., the patient's search to resume development in the context of a therapeutic relationship wherein selfobject experiences are provided. This paper attempts to demonstrate that it is not merely the patient's development that receives a forward thrust in the course of self psychological treatment, but also the analyst's.
First, the authors review aspects of existing self-psychological and intersubjectivity literature that are compatible with the notion of bilateral healing. Next, aspects of traditional psychoanalytic and self-psychological theory that have impeded recognition of bilateral healing are reviewed. The difficulties inherent in conceiving of the therapeutic situation as developmentally beneficial to the analyst from within an intrapsychic, medical-model perspective are discussed. Also examined are lacunae within self psychological theory itself, most notably, its neglect of the patient's need to be trusted to provide for the psychological well-being of others.
Finally, two illustrative clinical examples are presented. In one, a male patient's insistence on self-disclosure on the part of the analyst, and in the other, a female patient's rages fostered developmental transformation in the analysts.