IPA Inter-Regional Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis

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VI. G. Self-Psychology Perspectives: Kohut and Contemporary The self-psychological consideration of transference differs from that of other theoretical points of view inasmuch as it is based upon a developmental line of narcissism separate from that of object relations. It also considers an extended theory of the mind (Sheldrake, 2012) and thus the “other” or the analyst is not seen as distinct from the patient as in a “two-person” psychology but rather as a necessary constituent of the patient or as a “selfobject.” From this perspective, the analyst as a transference figure does not have mental components transferred or “projected’ onto him but rather participates in the ongoing analysis and growth of the self (Kohut, 1971). From the earliest moment of self development beginning with the attainment and recognition of a cohesive self (Kohut, 1971) and onto the continuing changing characteristics of the self, one can note the dual aspects of the self according to the modifications in ambition and idealization (see separate entry SELF). Therefore, the transferences or selfobject realizations are directed towards the analyst aiding in self integration, serving as a mirroring selfobject, a twinning selfobject, or an idealizing selfobject. The transferences will retrace the developmental line of narcissism with both its normal as well as its pathological aspects. Transference interpretations will allow for pathology in mirroring to mutate into pride, while those of idealization will become integrated as enthusiasm. It is important to recognize that the extended theory of the mind never results in an isolated person but rather in a lifelong employment of others as selfobjects to aid in mirroring and idealization. One is never free of selfobjects. This is in line with the fact that transferences, both selfobject transferences as well as others, are ubiquitous and universal.

VII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT IN LATIN AMERICA

VII. A. Ángel Garma Ángel Garma set up an important psychoanalytic movement in Argentina, which, in turn, extended throughout Latin America. Born in Bilbao, Spain, he migrated to Argentina in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). In 1942, along with others, he founded the Argentine Psychoanalytic Association, of which he was president throughout different periods. In one of his earliest papers, “La Transferencia afectiva en el Psicoanálisis” [Affective Transference in Psychoanalysis], from 1931, he stressed the importance of making conscious within the psychoanalytic treatment the patient’s unconscious masochistic submission to the superego that he has transferred to the analyst. In the same year Garma had presented a paper in order to become member of the German Psychoanalytic Society, “Die Realität und das Es in der Schizophrenie” [Reality and

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