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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical
Education through the joint sponsorship of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ per hour of instruction. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Important Disclosure Information For All Learners: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to
disclose.
The concept of the Self, while seemingly self-evident to anyone reflecting on her or his own
experience, has nevertheless been elusive and/or controversial in psychoanalysis. This likely
stems from the origins of psychoanalysis as a field of intra-psychic forces, which had taken the
“selfhood” for granted as an entity within which those forces played on. The psychoanalytic
examination of the “self” as well as of the “object” in their own terms (other than as objects of
drives) was thus suspect as expressions of resistance against the intra-psychic focus.
This course takes its point of departure from the view that the Self has clinical existence as it
has existence in life. It issues from a deeply embedded psychophysiological core of bodily
self-experience and develops through the process of laying down psychological engrams of its
encounters with the world through its surface perceptions, proprioception and social contact.
* In psychoanalytic terms, the Self is comprised of many self- representations, each of which is
organized around these psychologically salient bodily and mental experiences. It is deeply
rooted and inescapably personal.
The course is an effort to highlight the concept of the Self from several perspectives of psychoanalytic thought, in the hopes that each may, alone or more likely in combination with others,
revisit some salient theoretical propositions, illuminate clinical encounters and inform therapeutic ramifications accordingly.
*See: Hartmann.E. : Comments on the Psychoanalytic Theory of the Ego, PSC, 1950, pp. 84-85
Luba Kessler, MD
Ellie Gelman, PhD
*Available on P-E-P
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
CLASS #1: Defining Self
READINGS:
Psychoanalytic and neuropsychoanalytic placement:
Damasio. A. – Self Comes to Mind, Pantheon Books, NY, 2010
-
Chapter 1, “Awakening”, pp. 3-30
*Hartmann, H. (1950). Comments on the Psychoanalytic Theory of the Ego. Psychoanal. St. Child, 5:
pp. 84-85 - paragraph from bottom of p. 84 to top of p.85.
*Freud, S. (1923) The Ego and the Id Standard Edition, Vol. 19
Chapter II “The Ego and the Id”, pp. 19-27
Sletvold, J. (2013). The Ego and the Id Revisited: Freud and Damasio on the Body Ego/Self. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 94:1019-1032.
Sketch of Human Brain
Optional:
Psychosociobiological Placement of Self
Baumeister, R. (2011) – Self and Identity: a brief overview of what they are, what they do, and how
they work - Annals of the New York Academy of Science, vol. 1234/Perspectives on the Self, pp. 48-55
CLASS #2: Undifferentiated Psychophysiological Self/ Psychological Birth
READINGS:
*Hartmann, H., Kris, E., Loewenstein, R.M. (1946). Comments on the Formation of Psychic Structure.
Psychoanal. St. Child, Vol. 2, pp. 20-23: a) the undifferentiated phase, p. 20; b) the self and the environment pp. 20-23.
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
Mahler, M., Pine F., &Bergman, A. - The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant, Basic Books, NY,
1975.
--Chapter 3, “The Forerunners of the Separation-Individuation Process”, pp.41 - 51.
*De Toffoli,C. (2011) – The Living Body in the Psychoanalytic Experience. PQ, vol. 80/3, pp. 595-618
Optional:
*Loewald, H. (1984). Review of The Selected Papers of Margaret S. Mahler (2 Vol) NY, Aronson, 1979,
in JAPA, 32:
*Gergely, G. (2000). Reapproaching Mahler: new Perspectives on Normal Autism, Symbiosis, Splitting
and Libidinal Object Constancy from Cognitive Developmental Theory, JAPA, 48: 1197-1228
CLASS #3: Intersubjectivity in the Formation of the Self: Infant Research
READINGS:
Beebe, B. & Frank L. Lachman - Infant Research and Adult Treatment, Routledge, 2002.
--Chapter 2, “A Dyadic Systems View”, pp. 21-44
--Chapter 8, “Three Principles of Salience in the Organization of the Patient-Analyst
Interaction: The Case of Clara” pp. 185-207
Optional:
*Stern, D. – The Interpersonal World of the Infant, A View from Psychoan and Developmental Psychology, Basic Books, NY, 1985.
--Chapter 1, “A Central Role for the Sense of Self”, pp. 5 -12
--Chapter2, “Perspectives and Approaches to Infancy”, pp. 13 – 34
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
CLASS #4: Self Psychology: Selfobject in Transmuting Internalization
READINGS:
Kohut, H.
– The Restoration of the Self, IUP, 1977.
--Chapter 2, “Does Psychoanalysis Need a Psychology of the Self?”,
pp. 85-90
*Tolpin, M. (1971) — On the Beginnings of the Cohesive Self: an Application of the Concept of
Transmuting Internalization to the Study of the Transitional Object and
Signal Anxiety, PSC, Vol. 26: 316 – 352
CLASS #5: Libidinization
READINGS:
*Freud, S. (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Standard Edition, Vol. 7
III. “The Transformations of Puberty: [5]The Finding of an Object: The Sexual
Object During Early Infancy”, pp. 222-224
Spitz, R., & Cobliner, G. - The First Year of Life. IUP, NY, 1966
--Chapter 4, “The Cradle of Perception”, pp. 61 – bottom of 65
Jacobson, E. -The Self and the Object World, IUP, NY, 1966.
-- Chapter 3, “Fusions of Self and Object Images”, pp. 33-37;
Mahler, M., Pine F., &Bergman, A. - The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant, Basic Books, NY,
1975.
--Chapter 4, “The First Sub-Phase: Differentiation and the Development
of the Body Image”, pp. 51 – 58
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
[Laplanche, J. (2011) – Freud and the Sexual: Essays 2000-2006, ed. Fletcher,J. International Psychoanalytic Books
-
Essay 2, “Sexuality and Attachment in Metapsychology”, pp. 27-50
Or
*Lichtenstein, H. (1961).- Identity and Sexuality – a Study of Their Interrelationship in Man,
JAPA, 9:179-260]
Optional:
*Lehtonen, J. ( 2006) – Nascent Body Ego: Metapsychological and Neurophysiological Aspects, IJP, 87:
1335-1353
CLASS #6: Identification
READINGS:
Jacobson, E. -The Self and the Object World, IUP, NY, 1966.
--Chapter 3, “Fusion of Self and Object Images”, pp. 37 – 48;
--Chapter 4, “The Child’s Discovery of his Identity and his Advance
to Object Relations and Selective Identification, pp. 49 – 69;
Optional:
Jacobson, E. – The Self and the Object World,IUP, NY, 1966
--Chapter 5, “The Child’s Finding of His Sexual Identity and the Building Up of
His Ego”, pp. 70 – 86;
--Chapter 9, “Developmental Trends in Latency Child and the Relations
of Guilt to Shame and ‘Inferiority Conflicts”, pp. 127 – 135, in
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
-- Chapter 11, “The Instinctual and Emotional Conflicts of the
Adolescent and the Remodeling and Growth of His Psychic
Structures”, pp. 185 – 188
--Chapter 8, “The Organization and Integration of Different
Superego Components into a Consolidated Functional System”,
pp. 119 – 127
CLASS #7: Introjection
READINGS:
*Bollas, C. 9 (1982) – On the Relation to the Self as an Object, IJP, 63:347-359
[*Ogden, T. (2010) – Why Read Fairbairn, IJP, 91: 101-118
or
*Fairbairn, W.R. (1941). A Revised Psychopathology of the Psychoses and Psychoneuroses. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 22:250-279.]
CLASS #8: Self Psychology: Idealization
READINGS:
Rudimentary Self
Kohut, H.
– The Restoration of the Self, IUP, 1977.
--Chapter 2, “Does Psychoanalysis Need a Psychology of the Self?”,
pp. 98-100
Selfobject Transferences
*Kohut, H. & Wolf,E. (1978) The Disorders of the Self and their Treatment: An Outline. Int. J. PsychoAnal., Vol. 59: 413-425
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
*Miller, J.P. (1985) How Kohut Actually Worked Progress in Self Psychology, 1:13-30.
Optional:
*Bollas, C. (1986) - Who Does Self Psychology Cure, Psychoanalytic Inquiry,6, 429-435
CLASS #9: The Endangered Self: Self Preservation/Self Esteem/Shame
READINGS:
Freud: Danger Situations
*Freud, S. - Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety, Standard Edition, Vol. 20, 1925-1926..
–Chapter 7 through end of Chapter 8 , pp. 128 (bottom) - 143
Self Psychology: Self Esteem
Kohut, H.
-- The Restoration of the Self, IUP, 1977
--Chapter 2, “Does Psychoanalysis Need a Psychology of the Self?” pp. 101 – 111
Self Psychology: Shame
*Broucek, F.J. (1982). Shame and its Relationship to Early Narcissistic Developments. Int. J. PsychoAnal., 63: 369-378.
CLASS #10: Psychic Envelope
READINGS:
Skin Ego:
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THEORIES OF THE SELF
Third Trimester, 2015
SYLLABUS
*Freud, S.
-The Ego and the Id, Standard Edition, Vol. 19, 1923-1925.
–Chapter 2, pp. 19 – 26 (especially 25 – 26)
Anzieu, D. - The Skin Ego, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1989.
–Chapter 7, “The Functions of the Skin Ego”, pp. 96 – 113
Optional:
*Sabbadini, A.; Lemma, A.; Harrang, C.; De Ceglie, D. (2012) – Three Psychoanalytic Perspectives on
Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In (2011), IJP, pp. 1291-1313
Narrative Self:
Schafer, R ( 1992) – Retelling a Life: Narration and Dialogue in Psychoanalysis, Basic Books,NY
-Chapter 2, “Narratives of the Self”, pp.21-35
Optional:
*Freud, S. _ The Interpretation of Dreams, Standard Edition, Vol. 5, 1900
--Chapter 6 (I) Secondary Revision
*Stern, D. – The Interpersonal World of the Infant, A View from Psychoanalysis and
Developmental Psychology, Basic Books, NY, 1985.
--Chapter 8, “The Sense of a Verbal Self”