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    Winnicott ego distortion

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    42 views8 pages

    Winnicott Ego Distortion

    Uploaded by

    Gloria Kent

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    THE MATURATIONAL PROCESSES AND THE i FACILITATIN i ENVIRONMENT JS | TRB AND FALSE SELF (1960) “1 Sin ie be Thay of EotilDeo in the anfeence «phase (or phase) of eons egrenon to > D. Weatioorr 2 ‘My experiences have led me to recognize that dependent or pee deeply regressed patients can teach the analyst EGO DISTORTION IN TERMS OF indy than eam Be lemme owe direct observ ‘TRUE AND FALSE SELF ‘more than can be learned from contact early 1960) With the normal and abnormal experiences of th ‘One recent development jo-analyis has been the in- creasing use of the concept of the False Self. This concept carries é swith it the idea of a True Self. ike to compare may position with that of Greenacre, who has ako kept in touch with paediatrics while pursuing her practice of peycho-analy: ts function? serious dependence in the tr the False Self exaggerated or emphasized in some ‘expectations and their needs in the hy do some persons not develop a Fala Self apt? Ego-needs and Thneuds fat are che equivalents to the False Self in normal people ted ee cas leensd decison at Eee cr fat i hare tat ead be named 8 True Sl? acetyl am aot efsing tothe ntact ofistncts the aren that I am examining @ interaal to the infant. ‘The ‘can a clap of thunder or bit. strength and in consequence is getting towards ieincts (or by id-demands will be felt as part of the self, and rnd a part thatis tured ‘ental, When this development occur, then id-ra Personal Contribution able to include them, and not yet able to contain Jon to this subject derives from my working involved and the frustrations experienced up to the point whe ho contusion w this subject derives xy working AT erin iene rae ate Pp point when, said to me: ‘Good management’ ( (q) as a pacdiatrician with mothers and infants axid rienced during this hour ts a feed GB &3 a beycho-analyst whose practice inchides « small series of ‘hot heve said this the other way rou: Bordblincaves tented by analysis butneeding toesperienee him he would have complied and this would have payed ino 142 (THE MATURATIONAL PROCESSES his False Self defence, or else he would have reacted and rejected my advances, maintaining his integrity by choosing frustration. ‘Other influences have been important for me, at for instance when periodically [ have been asked for a note on a patient who is now under psyebi who wae observed by myself when have been able to wae already to be discerned in the i iene a spa m fo oT, : [Elatonghip to the mother, oF to the father as another mo “The father at this very easly stage has not become significant as 2 sale person.) Beanple “The best example I can give is that of a middle-aged woman the feeling all fs her analysis, which has lasted many years. In the ofthis research stale (this lasted two or three years), “was dealing wrth what the patient called her ‘Caretaker lysis, as a kind of elaborate test of the (3) brought her to 3 ee CQ) pradally fer three year or more handed over is anti to the analyst (thia was tte time of the depth of the regression, with a few weeks of a very high degree of dependence on the analyst); suming caretaking at times when the illness, analyst's holidays, et.); Brom the evolution of this case it was easy for me defensive nature of the False Self. Its defensive funct ‘and protect the True Self, whatever that may be t becomes possible to clasify False Self or sone extreme: the False Selfsets up as real observers tend to think is the real person. I - Ships, work relationships, and friendships, however, the False Self begins to fail. In situations in ‘which what is (2) Less extre a Seif is, however, acknowledged as a potential and is allowed a secret life. Hete is the clearest example of clinical illness as sx otganization with a positive si, the preservation ofthe individual in spite of abnormal environmental conditions. This is an extension of the psycho-analytic concept of the value of symptoms to the sick person. (6) More towards health: The False Self has asits main concern a search for conditions which will make it possible for the True Self to come nots own. If conditions cannot be found then there must be reorganized a new defence against exploita- ere nna bern ie dey api pte much colour to the False Self organization). (5) In health: the False Self is represented by the whole organ- ization of the poli ‘mannered social attitude, a ‘not Bitinry process m general the grin being the place in society which can never be attained or maintained by the ‘True Self alone, arent So far I have kept within the bounds of clinical Even in this Hinite iti of psycho-anaiysis for analysis under a training scheme, The af postnatal ode anag see, The Pa ype oh : ‘ where all types of socepted and kept in treatment, this diagnosis of False Personality is important in the avoidance of extreme frustration associated ‘The Mind and the Faiss Self - anger ares ou of theo in cllectual approach ¢ False False Self becomes on — foot Tcl ola ere a wen ezng to re Re eetion a the Yule a en ives, The world may obs« se eee the individual concemed, who feel ‘phoney hhe or she is successful. When such individuals destroy Chemoelvy in one way oF anothengstd of flling promise, the aon tac 2 tene o tonk ita so hve developed high hopes of the indi Aetiology ‘The main way shich these ears pee ae 7 : ine ons tes ape ake sd cla! carina oe ‘TRUE AND FALSE SELF (1960) tude, because in this field dependence is real, and near abs 1 és nat possible to slate what takes place by reference to the infant alone. Ta secking the aetiology of the False Self we are examining the stage of first object-relatioaships, At this stage the infantis most of the time unintegrated, and never fully integrated; the various sensori-motor elements bel mother holds the infamt, sometimes physically, and all the time figuratively. Periodically the infant's gesture gives expression to a spontaneous impulse; the source of the gestare is the True Self and the gesture indicates the existence of a potential True Si We need to examine the way the mother meets this inf omnipotence revealed in a gesture (or a sensori-motor groupi Thave here linked the ides of a True Self with ‘gesture, Fusion of the mi of becoming afact at this ‘The Mothers Part It is necessary to exami other is not a good-ennugh ‘what is meant by the term ‘good-enought ‘The good-enough mother meets the omnipotence of the infant and to some extent makes sense of it. She does this repeatedly. A. ‘True Self begins to have life, through the strength given to the infant's weak ego by the mother’s implementation of the infant's ‘omnipotent expr is compliance ‘on the part of the infant is the earliest stage of the False Self, and belongs to the mother’s inability to sense her infant’s needs. Teis an easent cory that the True Self does not ‘There are now two possible lines of development in the scheme 6 ‘THE MATURATIONAL PROCESSES of events according to my formulation, Ja he fast are the mother's i infant begins to behaves as by sradually come to recog. of playing and imagining. 3 for the symbol which at frst is oth the infant's sp yr hallucination, and also the external object created and ultimately cathected. Tn between the , in so far a8 this something # ts function of leading on to symbol- ich belongs more particularly to the sub- he mother’s adaptation to the infant's mus impulses is deficient, not geed a to the capacity for symbol-usage does not get sta tse it becomes broken up, with = Coreaponding withdrawal on the part of the infant from ad- vantages gained). ‘infant lives, but lives falsely, The false existence can be detected ical picture is one of general fanction disturbances which inieally, only to reappear in serious he ‘of relationships, and by means of introjections even, 2 show of being real, so that the child may grow to be just mother, nurse, aunt, brother, or whoever at the time dominates the scene. The False Self has,one positive and very ‘hich ‘TRUE AND PALSE SELF (1960) ‘way itis possible to trace the point of origin of the False be seen tobe a defence, a defence against ner. The mother here has as part of her illness zd to maintain a madden those whe is may appear ina transference sitnation in whi ion This may appear in nce situation in which the pation’ ray be 2 degree of this which can destroy the last vestiges of an pa are ee wh egy voce Thave attempted to develop the theme of the pa: plays in my paper on ‘Primary Maternal Preoccuy with her infant. This develops dori height at the time of lying in, and cm mental healeh but als ts affected by the environment. the simplest case the man, 2 social att ich eels development tt Woe tana aturel fantion, els “a ‘THE MATURATIONAL PROCESSES

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