Paper Session C

6. Original Intent:
Relatedness, Countertransference and
Self Psychological Treatment

Self Psychology Page | 21th Conference Program

Summary

The scope of self psychological psychoanalytic treatment has been widened beyond "analyzable" patients to include treatment of "schizoid" or "borderline" disorders. In working with such patients a basic relatedness, which we usually take for granted, can become inaccessible behind complex defenses. This frequently creates problematic forms of countertransference interference that Howard Bacal and Peter Thomson have recently described. This interference emerges most dramatically in treating patients who have come to employ non-relational selfobjects.

This paper presents my own work with a patient, describing a successful attempt to understand and to move beyond a clinical impasse. In my discussion, I attempt to highlight the impact of relatedness between the patient and therapist within the context of self psychological treatment.

Self Psychology Page | 21th Conference Program