Epilogue

In general, the following points can be highlighted when attempting to dovetail findings about the early years with adult development. First, earlier forms and organizations are never fully relinquished. They may be in the periphery waiting to be activated, they can coexist with higher levels of organization, and even overlap with more complex reorganizations and structures. Most importantly, they are the fundamental units upon which higher levels of organization are built. The more seriously disturbed the patient, the more likely we will be dealing with these fundamental processes on a regular basis. These longitudinal observations offer specificity and refinements that were previously unavailable to us regarding these fundamental units. Second, infantile disturbances such as aversions and fetishes can serve adaptive functions and disappear later in life.

Third, often when we deal with the intrapsychic model of conflict, we overemphasize the wishes and fantasies of our patients and underestimate both the real, competent, and original parenting some adults have been fortunate to have had as well as the seriously deficient parenting of others. Some of these studies remind us of the severe consequences of a depressed mother, of the mother who cannot let her child be a separate person with his or her own gender, or of the effect of a mother's problems on her own affect regulation and thus her inability to regulate the child's affects early in life.

Now, let us review each contribution regarding applications to adult treatment. Lichtenberg has urged all analysts to keep in mind the complex interrelationship between early regulatory efforts/dysfunctions and intrapsychic conflicts. He has distinguished between disturbances that are a source of conflict and those which are the result of conflict. He has offered the concept of “model scenes”