ABSTRACT
Arobust 'sense of self' or self-identity is not a given; there are many ways the self can be lost, deformed, or falsified. Psychoanalytic theory, begun with Freud and developed by Klein, Winnicott, and many others, provides a coherent roadmap of human development, based on a theory of mind, applicable as a method of treatment for a range of disorders, as well as providing an abundant and rich catalogue of difficulties on the journey to an 'identity'. Psychoanalysis is suited to the task of finding or refinding the self and establishing an identity if that has not developed or has been lost, fragmented, or become unreal. Important keys to developing a sense of identity are rooted in unconscious beliefs and phantasies that emerge in the analytic process. The analytic process evolves through the medium of the transference, which was Freud's ingenious discovery of the way we relate to others in the present by unconsciously repeating patterns of relationships from the past.
