My Psychoanalytic Journey

In his previous paper, Fairbairn advanced a number of beliefs that contradict classical analysis. Most notably, he argued that that libido is primarily object-seeking (not pleasure-seeking), and he argued that we primarily repress bad internalized objects (not impulses which appear bad or memories which are painful). In this paper he argues that we should replace Freud’s mental structure of ego, id, and superego with a multiplicity of egos. He introduces this new concept by recounting the dream of a patient: The (manifest) dream to which I refer consisted in a brief scene in which the dreamer saw the figure of herself being viciously attacked by a well-known actress in a venerable building which had belonged to her family for generations. Her husband was looking on; but he seemed quite helpless and quite incapable of protecting her. After delivering the attack the actress turned away and resumed playing a stage part, which, as seemed to be implied, she had momentarily set aside in orde

What kinds of mental content do we repress? According to Freud, we repress memories and impulses that cause pain and guilt. Fairbairn writes that we repress bad internalized objects. Yes, we repress memories but memories of objects identified with bad internalized objects. And yes, we repress impulses but impulses impelling us to have relationships with bad objects. We repress bad internalized objects for two reasons. First, we repress bad internalized objects to avoid feeling bad about ourselves. This follows because early object-relationships are based on identification, meaning that during these relationships we’re not yet able to differentiate ourselves from our caregivers. Second, we repress bad internalized objects because as young children it is anxiety-provoking to believe that our caregivers are bad. To put it in religious terms, “it is better to be a sinner in a world ruled by God than to live in a world ruled by the Devil.”[1] Why, it might be asked, does the child internal

Classical libido theory holds that different developmental periods are characterized by the dominance of different libidinal zones; for instance, during the oral period the infant experiences libido (and thus pleasure) through her mouth. Fairbairn offers a number of criticisms of this theory, his main point being that “[t]he ultimate goal of libido is the object.” For example, the ultimate libidinal goal of the infant in the early oral stage is her mother, and her mouth is the way she attempts to access her mother. The classical view holds that if a child becomes fixated at a particular stage, then she will develop certain pathological conditions. Fairbairn agrees that fixation at the early oral stage leads to schizoid conditions and that fixation at the late oral stage leads to depressive conditions. However, he does not believe that paranoid, obsessional, and hysterical conditions result from fixation at the early anal, late anal, and genital phases, respectively; rather, each of the

Fairbairn wants to focus on schizoid mental processes, which exist on a spectrum, schizophrenia existing at one extreme. He wants to focus on schizoid processes for a number of reasons, one of them being that these processes are experienced by most patients, even those considered non-schizoid — e.g., patients described as hysterical, obsessional, and phobic individuals. The “fundamental schizoid phenomenon is the presence of splits in the ego,” a feature shared by all people. (Although theoretically, someone “whose development had been optimum” might not have such splits.) At the most extreme level, a split in one’s ego results in depersonalization or derealization; at a less extreme level, a split can result in one feeling artificial or emotionally disconnected from friends. Psychoanalysis have long believed that schizoid processes are caused by a fixation in the early oral stage. The infant at this stage focuses on taking (over giving), which comes in the forms of incorporation and

Chapters 1-6: The Three Areas of the Mind Michael Balint wants to understand why the best analysts sometimes fail. He provides two answers: There’s a whole lot that analysts still don’t know. We don’t know, for example, what we’re supposed to do with the id, don’t know if we’re even able to influence the id. And although we know a few things about the superego — e.g., that it primarily forms when the child introjects her parents and that it can be changed when the patient introjects her analyst — we don’t know how to help the patient get rid of parts of her superego. Freud based psychoanalysis on his work with obsessional and melancholic patients. These patients possess certain characteristics that other individuals don’t possess, and consequently, it’s no guarantee that the techniques which work for these patients will work for other patients. Balint goes on to describe two different types of patients. Oedipal patients primarily struggle with internal conflict. One one to put this is