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RECENT WORK WITH DISORDERS rooted in early developmental levels has, in some quarters, led to a recognition of the intrinsic value of ideal experience1 in healing and creativity (e.g., Milner 1950), (1969) ; (Winnicott 1971) ; (Searles 1965) ; Balint 1965, (1968) ; (Kohut 1971). Balint (1968) expressively describes a 'harmonious mix-up of self and milieu' as the matrix from which a fully human development can proceed. Kohut (1971) writes of a foundational oneness of self and other which gradually must undergo maturation. Searles (1965) has depicted the healing power of sustaining a phase of "pre-ambivalent symbiosis" with the patient, purportedly reflective of the primary matrix in which the early-most self arises. Milner (1969) describes the value of allowing personality distortions to collapse into undifferentiated states from which a new self-feeling and relation to the world can grow. Winnicott (1971), together with Milner, places a critical importance on "illusion" in generating a true self feeling and, ultimately, linking oneself meaningfully to cultural life in general. In some basic sense the "oceanic" for these authors is no longer viewed pejoratively but as a dimension of subjectivity with hidden resources waiting for exploration and use. It is seen, essentially, as in traditional religions, as carrying a redemptive element, linked with the feeling of wholeness.
This positive emphasis on regressive states is in contrast with much psychoanalysis of the past. To be sure, Freud saw the importance of ideal states in motivating a patient for treatment. He early used the transference in just this way insofar as he relied on idealization-identification to try to influence patients. However,