Posted by vwoolf on August 18, 2010, at 4:10:13
In reply to Re: Lear » vwoolf, posted by sigismund on August 18, 2010, at 3:05:28
I think its about your interactions with the outside world, and your ability to think about these interactions, and to relate them to yourself as a whole integrated person. The interactions themselves are governed by emotions.
If you were putting emotions into your therapist with the scope of unloading the uncomfortable emotions in yourself, or acting out without mentalizing this in any way, this would be on a lower developmental level, (probably teleological agency) than if you were able to think about what you wanted to do rather than actually doing it (representational agency). I certainly recognise that development in my own therapy.
What the author is trying to do is track psychological development as it happens in therapy through investigating these stages. She seems to think that they are natural developmental stages, and so the therapist should not try to inhibit acting out, for example, but should tolerate it in the expectation that the client will mature to a higher stage in due course. For example, did your therapist tolerate your challenging behaviour, and did it eventually change into intentions that you were able to think about rather than act on?
poster:vwoolf
thread:958485
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20100706/msgs/959031.html