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So far we have addressed questions related to the definition of the self—historically, as this definition has changed throughout the evolution of psychoanalytic thinking and research, and as the self is viewed differently from various theoretical perspectives. We have also focused on the concept of the self as it is involved in different aspects of individual development—the maturational process, the environment, and the creation of an inner world. Turning once again to the idea of the inner world, we come to our third area of inquiry, the fantasy life and the self. These questions will continue our explorations of the definition of the self, and shed more light on specific maturational processes as they relate to self-development.
Question Three: How do the development of symbolic processes and emerging verbal representational abilities influence the development of the self? How do you differentiate the self from internal objects, unconscious representations, and identifications? What is your reaction to Winnicott's idea that some part of the self must always remain isolate and incommunicado? If that is so, what are the implications for creativity and clinical work?
In clinical work with adults, problems of symbolic development show up in a certain concreteness of thought and a preference for action or enactments as opposed to drive delay, reflectivity, and thinking through, and especially as a difficulty in recognizing the existence and the meaning of transference, which is after all a symbolic or metaphorical concept. In the adult, such problems with symbolism can often be traced to early difficulties