A Developmental Line for Affects: The Relevance of Contextualization of Affects for the Psychodynamic Treatment of Early Developmental Psychopathology

In this paper we present perspectives from clinical work, neuroscience, and evolutionary anthropology that together provide a useful framework to think about and work clinically with patients with early developmental psychopathology, in particular certain aspects of borderline personality structure. Our argument is that conceptualizing a line of affective development starting with basic, primary affects, and progressing to nuanced, contextualized, tertiary affects helps locate the origin of the affective instability and dysregulation of some patients. When this line of affective development is interrupted, a limited, inflexible self develops. When the development of tertiary affects is facilitated, it allows for a richer, more flexible self. We also argue that, separate from splitting as a defense, a black and white form of cognition often accompanies the early experience of primary and secondary affects. When development of more sophisticated, contextualized affects is interrupted, this binary form of cognition tends to persist, but when that development is facilitated, richer, more nuanced forms of cognition also contribute to a more robust self.