ABSTRACT
This chapter takes forward several ideas about the ways in which psychoanalytic psychotherapy might carry a patient over from the magical but nutrient-empty space of “magical introjection” to being in the therapeutic space for the purpose of achieving “use” in its fullest sense, destroying through this use, surviving, and finally creating meaning with the “immense joy” of which Winnicott speaks. It begins by elaborating on forms of ruthless idealization that prevent the therapeutic space from being used as a space that will survive the vagaries of rupture and multiplicity. It considers the kinds of interventions during this stage of the work that may set the platform for the shift from object relating to object usage. This includes discussing the fate of interpretation with idealizing patients. It ends with some comments about the cost of de-idealization, especially with respect to psychic deadness. To argue the case, I will introduce case material from two treatments, each of which had idealization in the treatment as a core feature.
