Internalization, Separation, Mourning, and the Superego

In this paper I shall speak of the superego as a product of internalization, and of internalization in its relations to separation, loss, and mourning. A brief consideration of some aspects of the termination of an analysis will be presented in this context. I shall describe some of the differences and similarities between ego identifications and superego identifications and shall introduce the concept of degrees of internalization, suggesting that the introjects constituting the superego are more on the periphery of the ego system but are capable of mobility within this system and may thus merge into the ego proper and lose their superego character. The proposition will be presented that the superego, an enduring structure whose elements may change, has important relations to the internal representation of the temporal mode future.

As an introduction to the subject it may be useful to recall that for Freud the superego is the heir of the Oedipus complex. Introjections and identifications preceding the oedipal phase and preparing the way for its development go into the formation of the ego proper. The origins of the superego are to be found also, according