ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to delineate a "psychodynamic image of the couple", drawing inspiration from J. Sutherland's case for envisioning a "The psychodynamic image of man". Such an image would reflect both an outer and an inner life, along with the emotional forces that move continually between them, as well as between the past and the present. Attachment to an inner couple object, after all, leaves us with an unconscious propensity to form relationships that recreate significant early conflictual relationships. The chapter considers the development of a sense of couple identity and the relatedness of such an identity with an internal couple object; and further, the relatedness of the couple in the couple's mind with the concept of a couple ego, as O. F. Kernberg proposes, with its own superego and ego ideal. Sutherland's concept of a psychodynamic image may help couples and couple psychotherapists to appreciate fully the impact felt when the couple ego ideal is lost or irrevocably changed.
