The paper examines some metapsychological aspects of inner sustainment and its implications for treatment. Internalization of the external environment is of central importance in the development of the organism. That is, separation-individuation and differentiation of psychic structure are given their particular characteristics by the processes whereby the experiences in the external environment—particularly those of the first six years of life—are taken into and form much of the content of the internal environment.

Inner sustainment is the product of 'multiple function' of the psychic organization. The genesis and dynamics of the forces interacting to effect the character of inner sustainment