Mirror, Mirror

Freud and the Reversible Self-Object Dyad

Bibliographic Data

ID8334111
AuthorsRobert A Paul (corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume69
Issue6
Pages1115-1143
Publication date2021-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00030651211058670
PMID35170339
OpenAlexW4213379350
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

Freud is often negatively contrasted with object relations and relational theorists for holding to a metapsychology in which drives are understood as innate and predetermined in their development, are thought to follow the pleasure principle in a “hydraulic” manner, and are not seen as influenced by real objects. While that theory is certainly one dimension of Freud’s thinking, it is paralleled by another, quite different model positing a “mirror” relation in which affectively charged reversible self-object dyads, as opposed to purely internal dynamics, are the constituent elements of mental life. This view, more compatible with theories placing greater emphasis on the constitutive role of self-object relations, may further the reconciliation of Freudian and object-relational theories

Cognitive science · Dimension (graph theory) · Dyad · Epistemology · Freudian slip · Id, ego and super-ego · Metapsychology · Object (grammar) · Object relations theory · Pleasure · Pleasure principle · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Pure mathematics · Relation (database) · Representation (politics) · Self · Computer Science · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis and Social Critique · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

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