![]() It is not our intention to negate the importance of analysing and containing the residue of the ‘bad object’. #Nourish move love 5 minute warm up freeThis process could take place through (a) a positive transference and/or countertransference, (b) a positive enactment by the patient or therapist, and/or (c) receptivity to free association materials and introspection that uncover the unconscious lost good object experience.īy means of a clinical example, we will show how the patient, with the assistance of the therapist, was able to recover good experiences, buried under an avalanche of relational trauma and its emotional by-products: anger, bitterness, and desperation. In keeping with these understandings, in the current article we will focus on a number of ways in which therapists can be active participants in the revival of good object memories and examine the common obstacles they face along the way. This idea was supported by Steiner ( 2006) in a description of a clinical event in which, during the therapeutic process, his client got in touch with memories of his mother's valued qualities with feelings of regret and loss, which marked a shift toward a more positive outlook characterized by the capacity ‘to bring memories which indicated that his mother had a career of some potential and achievement which he respected and envied’ (p. More recently, based on their work with highly traumatized mothers and their children, Lieberman and her colleagues ( 2005) suggested that repressed past good experiences (termed ‘angel-like experiences’) might be retrieved during therapy. Like Averill, Skolnick ( 1998) also argued that during the therapeutic process, a surprising appearance and revival of good object memories might take place. 295) and suggested that ‘… psychotherapy or psychoanalysis facilitates the acquisition of positive memories that enable the patient to reinvest in the world and in new objects in the environment’ (p. In his effort to broaden our understanding of the therapeutic process, Averill ( 1997) argued that, ‘Just as trauma leaves its footprint on the psyche, so does good and positive experiences with the early caretaker-lover’ (p. Although this kind of unique clinical event has received attention in the psychoanalytic discourse as a transformative and curative factor, it has sometimes been buried in case material on various other themes. However, much clinical evidence and many psychodynamic case studies attest to the fact that sometimes during psychotherapy, ‘when the past trembles within the present’, an unexpected memory arises of positive experiences with these not-good-enough parental figures, or with other attachment figures. A lack of such relationships also goes a long way in explaining past and current difficulties, manifested in different areas of life. ![]() These issues will be illustrated by means of a case study of psychotherapy conducted with an adolescent.Ī lack of satisfying relationships with good enough parental figures is one of the most common phenomena in the descriptions of childhood among adults and adolescents seeking psychotherapy. To loosen this knot, which would allow feelings of vitality and hope to take root, it is important to salvage the historic good object of both participants in the therapeutic encounter. ![]() One of the potentially troublesome outcomes of this situation is the danger of a Gordian knot being created, between the perception of the historic object as all bad and the parallel and persistent experience of the individual as undeserving, destructive, and devoid of love. This goal is particularly challenging in the context of psychotherapy conducted with adolescents and adults who have a background of relational trauma, when the approaches and histories of both patient and therapist are liable to join forces and bring about a split: between seeing significant objects from the patient's past as essentially bad and seeing the therapist as all good. The present article addresses the therapeutic potential of salvaging the historic good object and its revival in the patient's mind. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |