ABSTRACT
The work of most psychoanalysts on the self was helpful in clarifying the relation between the ego and the self. In this chapter, the author mentions a consequence of self theory and experience which needs underlining. Jung maintained that the self combined opposites and so transcended them. It follows that a "good" analyst cannot be only good in the ordinary infantile or social senses of the word. An instance of the dilemma may be given as follows: it is sometimes maintained that a patient is healed by the analyst's love, and that in being a "good parent", he can redress the faults of his patient's upbringing or heal the patient's self image. It is an idea of the infant self representation that has become damaged by his mother's treatment of him. The author also presents a final comment on the importance given to mother-infant studies.
