ABSTRACT
There is a second kind of false self system that is more truly mask-like than that of compliance. In this case the individual feels that his or her existence depends not so much upon others, but upon the core experiences that must not be lost, damaged, or contaminated.1 Winnicott came across this notion in a personal way. At the beginning of a paper on communication he wrote:
Starting from no ®xed place I soon came, while preparing this paper for a foreign society, to staking a claim, to my surprise, to the right not to communicate. This was a protest from the core of me to the frightening fantasy of being in®nitely exploited. In another language this would be the fantasy of being eaten or swallowed up. In the language of this paper, it is the fantasy of being found.2
