Preface

This journal is the record of a conference given by the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) in March 1999. The intent of this conference was to provide an opportunity for two groups to meet and share their observations. We invited, on the one hand, Freudian and Kleinian psychoanalysts interested in the pathology of the self in children and adults and, on the other, psychological researchers concerned with the necessary conditions for the development of the self. We hoped that these groups might learn from each other in spite of differences in their theoretical orientations and areas of specialization.

In the first four chapters, panelists respond to a set of questions concerning the self. These questions, distributed beforehand, ask the panelists to define the self and describe its development; speak on symbolic representation, fantasy, and the self; and finally to consider, theoretically and through case material, clinical manifestations of the pathology of the self. In choosing to relay these discussions as they developed organically at the conference, we have sought to record not only the substance of the panelists' conclusions but the nature of their dialogue as well.

The final two chapters are case presentations. The first is the case of an adult woman, presented by a therapist who has asked to remain anonymous, followed by a lively discussion by the panelists, with questions from the audience. The second is a child case with only one discussant, Anne Alvarez. This case is also followed by audience discussion. Each case concludes with comments by the moderator of the panel.