A Contribution to the Settlement of the Historical Antinomy between Conflict and Defects in the Self

Inquiring about the origin of mental distress from a relational point of view, the author focuses on the debate between conflict and structural defects, in order to overcome the dichotomy between the two different perspectives. According to the doctrine of defects in the self, which is based on certain Object Relations Theories, pathology is caused by faulty or inadequate caregivers. The doctrine seems too simplistic, because the child is thought of as completely passive. According to the relational viewpoint in psychoanalysis, the development of the subject takes place in a mutual conditioning process between the subject and the environment, which has to be better conceptualised. Defects in the interactive relationships with the primary caregivers, viewed as a failure in the relationship, create in the child a decompensation, which makes it withdraw from the relationship. In order to open itself to the relationship again, as a primal objectual need, the child builds up a pattern of response, which allows it to negotiate it again. Making use of the research on the first phases of development of R. Emde (psychoanalytic trend), C. Trevarthen (interactive-cognitive trend) and K. Kaye (child psychology), the author argues that the adherence to the structured response pattern leads to a conflict between the structured self image and any other potential different way of seeing oneself. Through a clinical vignette the author will demonstrate how this may lead to a non-cohesiveness of the self, viewed as an inactivation of the subject's developmental possibilities.