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Once Kohut abandoned the sexual and aggressive drives as motivating forces for development and psychopathology, psychoanalytic self psychology had to generate its own developmental theory. Michael F. Basch was one of the most prolific and most creative contributors in this new and rapidly growing area of self psychology. It was Mike's conviction that a better understanding of psychological development (and the way this may be limited by neurobiology) is not only the best but the only way in which we can advance the clinical theory that guides us in the treatment of patients with self disorders. His emphasis on the relationship between the theory of development and that of treatment is stated most explicitly in his book Practicing Psychotherapy (Basch, 1992).
It is in this tradition that I hope to make a contribution to the developmental theory of psychoanalytic self psychology. I hope to demonstrate that the development of the sense of power and self-esteem on one hand and destructive aggression on the other have a common genetic developmental root. Though diametrically opposed in their behavioral consequences, they both have their origin in the transformation of infantile grandiosity. The sense of personal power is acquired through age-appropriate validation of the young child's grandiosity, whereas destructive aggression arises when, instead of affirmation and validation, the child's grandiosity is debunked; in place of pride and pleasure, there is shame and humiliation.
The development of personal power is related to the two major developmentally crucial selfobject experiences; merger with the idealized strength of the caretaker, and feeling validated by the idealized other. Experientially, these two processes cannot be readily separated. When we speak of the selfobject experience of mirroring and validation, the emphasis is on the transformation of the infantile, grandiose exhibitionistic self into a sense of pride and pleasure in who one is.