Thirty Some Years After Ferenczi's “Stages in the Development of the Sense of Reality”

Ferenczi's classic work, “Entwicklungsstufen des Wirklichkeits-sinnes”1 was published in 1913. For the first time in psychoanalytic literature an attempt was made to present a chronologic and systematic tabulation of the development of childish megalomania. Ferenczi's paper has been quoted over and over again, and justifiably so; but, strangely enough, no analytic author in 30 years has found it worthwhile to reconsider whether or not the progress of analytic knowledge since 1913 has not necessitated some changes or additions to Ferenczi's original scheme. This is even stranger if one bears in mind that Ferenczi's paper appeared before Freud's “Totem and Tabu.” Ferenczi remarks: “That paper was finished before Freud's work (‘Totem and Tabu’), which deals with the same theme from a different aspect, could be taken into consideration.”2

First, let's recapitulate shortly the main points of Ferenczi's paper. The child lives for a long time in a sort of megalomania, knowing only one yardstick, his over-inflated Ego. His misconception of reality is fostered by the conduct of the adults about him, who automatically attempt to fulfill his every wish concerning nourishment, sleep and attention. The child misconceives causality and sees