The Synthesis of Self : Volume 1 the I of Consciousness Development From Birth to Maturity

A psychoanalyst, through training and experience, directs the en­ tire focus of his attention to registering and internalizing the in­ put of a patient's communications, listening intently for their implied meanings. It is only by umaveling the mysteries of an un­ conscious realm of mental activity that it becomes possible to fully comprehend the way in which mental productions are finally ob­ servable. The psychoanalyst's total personality is the listening in­ strument, and the messages emanating from this hidden sector most clearly heard, deciphered, and understood are those most resonant with the contents of the psychoanalyst's unconscious. It is probable that a variety of psychoanalysts adopting a listening posture with a given patient would hear and understand a mul­ tiplicity of different meanings. Over the years, sensitive, well­ trained psychoanalytic investigators have formulated concepts con­ cerning mental functioning from disparate and often opposing points of view. These contradictory ideas are offered from a ba­ sic theoretical foundation placing unconscious mental events as the most important force shaping human experience. Divergent opin­ ions may at times appear irreconcilable and then serve as the grounds for developing a separate psychoanalytic school of thought. It is not surprising that an exploration of unseen powerful and regressive forces, by a group of scientists with unique in­ dividual experiences, would yield insights sensitively attuned to a wide variety of important factors determining human develop­ ment and behavior. Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Introduction....Pages 1-24 Body Ego Experience and the Nuclear Self....Pages 25-48 The Qualities of Perceptual Experience and Object Impressions....Pages 49-69 Libido as Object Seeking and the Mechanism of Splitting....Pages 71-86 Separation-Individuation....Pages 87-111 The Onset of Cohesiveness....Pages 113-143 The Pregenital Phases of Psychosexual Development....Pages 145-185 The Oedipal Conflict as a Psychic Organizer....Pages 187-223 The Resolution of the Oedipal Conflict....Pages 225-263 Significance of the Latency Period....Pages 265-281 Pubescence....Pages 283-312 The Final Step to Maturity....Pages 313-335 Back Matter....Pages 337-347