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Dear Editor,
The difference in Sabina's internal situation between the described earlier and later phases of her analysis with Maurizio Balsamo (2011) denotes without doubt a significant progress in a very demanding process for both partners of the analytic couple.
I would like to examine this progress from a specific point of view. It seems apparent that by way of the analysis the internal object of the twofold absent deadening mother has been able to be transformed from an overwhelming presence into a significant but not domineering element (characterized by the representation as bystander in the dream).
I would like to use this opportunity as a preliminary communication to introduce a concept which, according to my knowledge, has not been described before. The progress described above can be conceptualized as the transformation of an internal object into an ‘internal subject’. This term, ‘internal subject’, is meant to characterize the result of a metamorphosis, a very significant development of an internal object. Insofar as internal objects and the relationships between the self and those objects can only be differentiated conceptually but not empirically, the transformation of an internal object cannot be differentiated from a transformation of the relationship to the internal object.
This change, however - if and insofar it happens - goes along with several changes which cannot be described here for reasons of space. Essential would be what could be called a ‘subjectivization’ of this structure (usually conceptualized as ‘internal object’), turning it more into a unit being equipped with qualities and capacities similar to a human subject, thereby becoming an ‘internal subject’. One important quality of this internal structure is the degree to which it provides a unit usable for the self (‘use of the object’) which can respond and therefore can be addressed and communicated with.
This transformation is well visible in the development of the internal (internalized)