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Maternal developmental lines originate from good-enough endowment, innate wishes, and experience with good mothering. Early preoedipal structures related to symbiotic fantasies of oneness, the need for completion of self, and omnipotent perfective magic wishes either contribute to the development of, or are organizers of, standards and goals that become part of the adult maternal ego ideal and patterns of adult caretaking. Other variables that contribute to material development but are not described in this paper include specific identifications, idiosyncratic fantasies, reparative and masochistic resolutions, normal defenses, and the effects of traumatic childhood events. Early maternal structures become an aspect of the small girl's emerging sense of gender identity, and influence typical developing defenses against aggression.
Psychoanalytic theorists frequently regard normative preoedipal derivatives such as those described in this paper as pathological. We make a distinction between normal derivatives and pathogenic variants such as symbiotic fixation and altruistic surrender (Edward, Ruskin, and Turrini, 1991, p. 268). If, during psychotherapy, normative