ABSTRACT
While previous chapters have focused on the process of getting from the paranoid-schizoid position to the depressive position, this chapter focuses on struggles of the depressive position: what Winnicott called “False Self pathology.” I argue that, as with so many of Winnicott’s concepts, the concepts of the True Self and the False Self are frequently misunderstood and misapplied. I also argue that these are extremely important concepts and that the recognition and abandonment of False Self functioning and the discovery/creation of the True Self is an inherent part of all psychotherapy.
