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November 25, 1986. ON "MERGING" AND THE FANTASY OF MERGING. Irving B. Harrison, M.D.
Dr. Harrison stated that the assumption of an original state of mother-infant unity is now widely accepted as a fact of psychic development, and he proposed to show that the assumption incorporates a concept of merging. Merging was originally understood as a primitive intrapsychic activity whereby the early ego blended sensations and impressions from diverse and nondiscriminated sources. It has become confused, however, with processes which are either more primitive—and developmentally earlier—than perception via the senses (Kohut), or which exist in a realm of "psychic fields" beyond the observable events of human physiology (Loewald). Such concepts, in addition, go beyond the assumptions which form a base for Freudian theory. Dr. Harrison sought to refute these authors' contentions and to underscore the extent of their departure from Freudian assumptions. The distinction between merging and the fantasy of merging was explicated by Dr. Harrison.
Many recent theoretical and technical innovations in psychoanalysis reflect the influence of the assumption of an original mother-infant unity. But Dr. Harrison contrasted the goal of efforts to promote "empathy" and to encourage regression in pursuit of the merged states with the Freudian technique in which regression serves the exclusive purpose of facilitating the analysand's access to repressed conflicts. The purpose of the latter is, of course, to re-establish a full connection between these and the analysand's conscious (verbal) ego.