ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors formulate the hypothesis that both self harm and violence against others are linked to failures in the capacity to mentalise; the lack of capacity to think about mental states in the self and others may lead individuals to deal with thoughts and desires primarily in the realms of body states and processes. They explore the meaning of gender difference in the direction of aggression, and the way in which the child has a second chance to foster a secure psychological self through his relation to the father, even when the mother has been unable to support and to separate successfully. The authors explore issues of technique in the treatment of a violent young man. They argue that at the core of the self is the other, but this other represents the self.
