ABSTRACT
Robert Caper considered that, if psychopathology was seen as a regression to a primitive state, there was a risk of equating the destructive states of the mind specific to mental illness with the normal, primitive states susceptible to development. The equating of the pathological with the primitive–two areas which should remain distinct–stemmed from the fact that elements of splitting, idealization, and grandiosity were present in both. Among the many contributors, Michael Robbins drew attention to the qualitative difference between mentalization in children and in psychotic adults, stressing the importance of using non-psychotic terminology to describe normal infancy. In defences such as repression or projection, the unconscious perception of the defensive transformation undertaken is preserved, whereas in a psychopathological construction consciousness is radically altered. The manipulation of the organs of psychic perception might reach extreme levels, to the extent of creating special worlds in which patient is captured: for example, states of sexualized well-being, perverse pleasure, or delusional realities.
