The Role of Internalization in the Development of Object Relations During the Separation-Individuation Phase

McDevitt, John B.

doi:10.1177/000306517902700202

Cited by 26 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Imitation during this period includes copying the parents' gestures, their tone of voice, their emotions, and their behavior; it is a time of pleasure in imitative games, such as peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. These imitative behaviors ordinarily occur only in the presence of the adult who serves as the model for the baby to imitate (McDevitt, 1979). Thus, a 14-month-old infant, whose loving nanny took particular delight in singing Bach's vocal music during their daily walks, was heard to vocalize the "Gloria" aria from her stroller, quite on key.…”

Section: The Development Of Primary Identificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This conflict between "clinging and cleaving" (Spitz, 1957, p. 124) may continue for the last 6 months of this subphase, ending at the conclusion of the second year of life. IS A number of theoreticians (e.g., McDevitt, 1979) have suggested that the resolution of the rapprochement crisis· depends on the functioning of identification. In this conceptualization, selective identification with parents helps resolve the alternating feelings of helplessness and ensuing clinging versus ambivalent autonomy and ensuing fighting that characterize the period.…”

Section: The Development Of Primary Identificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Development of Defense Mechanisms

Cramer

1991

188

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Section: The Development Of Primary Identificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Development Of Primary Identificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Defense Mechanisms

Cramer

1991

188

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“…The mirroring received from the mother, being a ref lection both of the infant's needs and of the mother's conscious and unconscious needs toward her infant, communicate a great deal about the mother's wishes for the infant (see Spitz and Wolf 1949;Schafer 1968;Lichtenstein 1977;Loewald 1978;McDevitt 1980). This conveys to the infant the conditions of self-representation, patterned in consonance with the mother's unconscious.…”

Section: Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity Maintenance in the Affectively Distant Patient

Hoffman¹

2003

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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Patients who are affectively distant, in that they appear to have little conscious emotional investment in the analyst, have been described increasingly in the psychoanalytic literature of the last twenty years. Typically, they have been understood either from a developmental point of view as defensively struggling against wishes for symbiotic union or, on the Kleinian model, as having unconscious fantasies of bodily fusion with the mother that, upon separation from her, result in annihilation anxiety that generates autistic defenses. Of special importance is the work of Heinz Lichtenstein, who stresses early identity maintenance and the role of mirroring experiences with the mother in the development of an "identity theme." This concept is used here as a symbiotic precursor of ego identity that ties the self to a particular mother. It is this primitive form of identity that can occasion regressive self-definition in the transference of the affectively distant patient. Two cases are presented that illustrate dynamics and transference dispositions occurring in the psychoanalysis of these patients. The discussion focuses on the role of the patient's catastrophic fear of acceptance, as well as on the consequent need for self-protective measures. It is argued that careful and consistent analysis of these conflicted areas of these patients' transference leads toward greater integration of their identity and personality.

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“…Mahler (1968) studied abnormal children and did for object relations and ego structures what Freud had done for the id-described crucial developmental phases that were inborn and inevitable. She looked at the effects of separation-individuation on ego development in the motherchild relationship (McDevitt 1979). In a similar vein, Weil (1970) contributed seminal papers on early ego endowment, growth, and development.…”

Section: An Annotated History Of Ego Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern Ego Psychology

Marcus

1999

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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This paper reviews the history of ego psychology, describing problems in the theory that have perhaps contributed to subsequent theory development and theoretical splintering. The present status of ego psychology is then described, with a focus on broadly accepted general principles. A proposal/prediction is then made regarding efforts to integrate the main schools and splinter groups. It is argued that the ego's method of synthesizing aspects of experience will help integrate divergent metapsychological viewpoints.

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The Role of Internalization in the Development of Object Relations During the Separation-Individuation Phase

Cited by 26 publications

References 13 publications

The Development of Defense Mechanisms

The Development of Defense Mechanisms

Identity Maintenance in the Affectively Distant Patient

Modern Ego Psychology

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