ABSTRACT
Communication between the self and the ego can consist of a reasonably civilized dialogue, a squabble, a full-blown row, an invasion, or a tyrannical oppression. Within the self there is also a cast of characters who, like swimmers with their heads above water, are partly in consciousness and partly not. These are the internal objects of the object-relations school, the complexes or sub-personalities in Jungian theory. C. G. Jung notes that in an adult there is a gradation between the images of internal objects that are totally archetypal and those that are totally human. An archetypal image of mother would operate totally unconsciously and might lead to the ego identifying with either the All-Providing or All-Devouring mother. A patient, Barbara, middle-aged and married, used her experience in therapy to modify her archetypal images and to integrate more of her sub-personalities into her ego. Communication, both external and internal, improved as a result of the analysis of her relationship with her therapist.''
