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September 14, 1971, THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD ILLNESS AND/OR DEFECT ON ANALYZABILITY. David Beres-Kenneth Calder Section of the Ernst Kris Study Group: Review of Its Study since September 1969.
Introductory sections of the study were presented by Drs. Lebert Harris and Wayne Myers who traced the evolution of the work. The purpose of the study was confined to an attempt to connect early illnesses or defects with adult phenomena when a link could be found between the two spheres in dream, fantasy, or the transference. The group considered cases from the literature as well as from clinical practice.
In his discussion of object relations and narcissism, Dr. Samuel P. Hunt stated that the literature on narcissistic states rarely mentions physical defect as an etiological factor. Exceptions are Greenacre's description of male impostors where a sense of defective genitals and noticeable body defects were often present, and contributions by Niederland who found defects to be organized along narcissistic pathways. The extent to which congenital illnesses/defects stimulate narcissistic formations depends on the stability of the early self-representation, the degree to which the defect influences neurotic interaction with parental narcissism, its visibility, the extent of erotization and aggressivization, the availability of compensatory mechanisms, and the tendency toward passive solutions to conflict.
Dr. Edgar L. Lipton stated that no particular symptomatic phenomenology connected with early defect was found; however, denial, displacement, and counterphobia were common defense mechanisms. Some questions were raised: 1, Do reality distortions of one's own body lead to reality distortions in perception? 2, Do perverts, with their problems in reality testing, have a higher incidence of congenital anomalies? Certain clues alerting clinicians to the possible presence of early defects are: 1, Chaotic associations, which may reduplicate a thinking disorder that occu