On transferred permissive or approving superego functions: the analysis of the ego's superego activities, Part II

The author explores another major anxiety-relieving resistance, namely, the re-externalized and transferred fantasy of authority figures offering affectionate approval, with implicit permission for openness and disclosure. The conditions the patient experiences as safe for exposure of conflictual material are based on fantasy, not on a realistic sense of permission from analysis of resistance. Wider-scope therapeutic attention appears to create natural obstacles to an interest in the analysis of the ego's superego activities from which less vulnerable patients could benefit. The author presents clinical examples of the analysis of this second type of transference of defense and discusses the implications for unifying diverse theories.