Internalization, Separation, Mourning, and the Superego

The formation of the superego, as the 'heir of the Oedipus complex', is considered in its relation to the phenomena of separation and mourning. Separation is described in its aspect as the occasion for processes of internalization, especially as it is related to mourning. The work of mourning is not confined to a gradual relinquishment of the lost object but also encompasses processes of internalizing elements of the relationship with the object to be relinquished. Such internalizations, in so far as they occur as part of the resolution of the Oedipus complex, lead to further differentiation of the ego of which the superego is a 'differentiating grade'. Some illustrations of the psychological processes involved in separation are given and there is a brief discussion of the termination of analysis from this point of view.

Separation from love objects constitutes a loss and may be experienced as deprivation. But separation, in certain crucial events in human life, also has the significance of emancipation and lack of separation may be experienced as deprivation. It is suggested that the emancipation involved in the normal resolution of the Oedipus complex, as well as in subsequent separations in which successful mourning takes place, can be understood in two ways: first, as an internal substitution for an externally severed object relationship (internal 'restitution of the lost object'), and second, as a resumption of early boundary-setting processes by which a further differentiation and integration of