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On ideals and idealization.

Andrew P Morrison¹

¹andrewp.morrison@verizon.net

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

|April 22, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study reframes ideals from defense mechanisms to sources of creativity and love. It explores how shaping personal ideals creates selfobjects, resolves inner conflicts, and ultimately leads to wisdom through the dialectic of narcissism.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Self Psychology

Background:

Traditional psychoanalytic views position ideals as defenses against primal drives.
This work challenges this perspective, exploring ideals' constructive role.

Observation:

Ideals are actively selected and molded to create meaning and self-objects.
This process involves "reshaping" external objects into idealized representations.
Kohut's concepts of idealization and the idealized parental imago are examined.

Findings:

Internal conflicts arise from clashing ideals, termed the "dialectic of narcissism."
Shame is linked to failing to meet ideals and goals.
Narcissism is broadly defined as encompassing all self-experience attributes.

Implications:

The development of flexible, meaningful ideals is crucial for psychological well-being.
Approximating these ideals leads to wisdom.
Clinical examples illustrate the interplay between ideals, self-objects, and narcissism.