Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Hans Loewald - The Discovery of Objects and Development

A classic article in the psychoanalytic literature on the nature of change in analysis:

"We know from analytic as well as from life experience that new spurts of self-development may be intimately connected with such 'regressive' rediscoveries of oneself as may occur through the establishment of new object-relationships, and this means: new discovery of 'objects'. I say new discovery of objects, and not discovery of new objects, because the essence of such new object-relationships is the opportunity they offer for rediscovery of the early paths of the development of object-relations, leading to a new way of relating to objects as well as of being and relating to oneself. This new discovery of oneself and of objects, this reorganization of ego and objects, is made possible by the encounter with a 'new object' which has to possess certain qualifications in order to promote the process. Such a new object-relationship for which the analyst holds himself available to the patient and to which the patient has to hold on throughout the analysis is one meaning of the term 'positive transference'." (p. 18)

Hans Loewald (1960). On the Therapeutic Action of Psycho-Analysis. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, Vol. 41, pp. 16-33

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