Back to Table of Contents
Bergman 1975), where baby and the mother are an ‘operative unit’, early strivings for differentiation of self and the rudiments of empathy are emerging as prerequisites for a “theory of mind”(Gergely and Unoka, 2011; Kernberg 2015). Kernberg’s version of Psychoanalytic Object Relations Theory (1982, 2004, 2015) relates the levels of development of psychic structure to the personality organization and psychopathology. He recognizes two basic levels of personality organization (borderline and neurotic), implying two basic levels of development, following the initial level of lack of differentiation and blurring of self and object boundaries (psychosis): Extending Jacobson and Mahler, selectively integrating certain aspects of Kleinian thought, Kernberg views the preverbal infant building a dual psychic structure, under the dominance of peak affect states. Idealized self-representations relating to an idealized object, dominated by positive affects are opposed to negative representations of self and object where aggressive, frustrated affects dominate. Under these conditions, no integrated view of self or object exists. Rather self and object are split or dissociated into idealized and/or persecutory part-object representation. If mother-child interactions are dominated by aggressive affect, the integration required for ego identity is forestalled resulting in borderline personality disorder. Specifically, as it concerns narcissism, the investment is in a ‘pathological self structure’ (‘grandiose self’), containing ‘real self’, ideal self, and ideal object representations. However, if in the first three years of life, developmental conditions allow for the tolerance of ambivalence, of combined positive and negative emotional relations with the same external objects, the child can develop an integrated sense of self (‘normal self’, realistic self concept) and the capacity for an integrated view of significant others. Here, the achievement of self and object constancy, allows for the formation of ego identity. The resulting internal structuralization delimits the id, and gives rise to an ego capable of sublimatory functions allowing for the adaptive expression of emotional needs regarding sexuality, dependency, autonomy and aggressive/assertive self affirmation. Internalized object relations that include ethically derived demands and prohibitions transmitted in the early interactions of the infant with his psychosocial environment are integrated into the Super-ego. This more integrated (neurotic, ‘normal’) level of personality organization allows for intrapsychic inter-systemic conflicts between all three agencies of Id, Ego, and Super-Ego (drive-defense conflicts). Here, the predominant mode of defense is repression. Kernberg’s recent integrative elaboration of Object Relations Theory has many implications for grappling with the complexities of early development and consequent pathologies of the self, positing a homeostatic ‘proto-self’ that can develop into a ‘core self’ capable of placing oneself in space and time. This more mature, continuous, stable concept of self can include autobiographical memory, anticipation, ‘linguistic self’’, ‘mental self’ and ‘social self’ (Kernberg, 2015). In his recent efforts to correlate psychoanalytic Object Relations Theory and affective neuroscience, Kernberg (2015) substantiates how current developmental affective neuroscientic research (Gergely and Unoka 2011) into various brain structures, circuits, and neurotransmitters supports the psychoanalytic hypotheses of gradual
765
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online