Inventors of new selves

This paper delineates a pattern of personality organization in which an individual is self-defined as having an identity that has been produced independently of all prior experiences. Usually there is a history of several radical changes of self-concept, in the conscious sense. Two psychodynamic bases of this pattern are discussed: one involving a flight from engulfment in others' perceptions and definitions, and the other involving a flight from a sense of irrevocable inner badness. In both cases, the childhood origins appear to be located in the pathogenic responses of caretakers during the phases of separation and individuation. Patients showing this pattern present special problems for the psychoanalyst. The main hazard one encounters in treating such people is that the patient will respond to the analyst's efforts to illuminate his or her personality structure and psychic origins with a sudden redefinition of the self and a breaking off of therapy. We have presented some treatment recommendations based on our experiences working with such people that involve substantial modifications of classical analytic technique. Central in these recommendations is the emphasis we have placed on the potential value of the analyst's empathically guided personal openness in the conduct of therapy.