Therapeutic Process and Developmental Process in the Restructuring of Object and Self Constancy

Abstract

This paper holds that the analytic relationship embodies both therapeutic process and developmental process, that these processes are best viewed as different and separate, and that they function in a complementary way in the revision of pathologically impaired and underdeveloped psychic structure. The focus of the paper is on the developmental formation and clinical restructuring of object and self constancy. The illustrative case material is excerpted from the case of a man who returned for additional treatment five years after the completion of an apparently successful analysis of his neurotic conflicts.