ABSTRACT
Anna Ornstein developed a very different therapeutic process focusing the interaction of the child with its parents as the basis of Self Psychology. Traditional psychoanalysis is a psychology of intrapsychic conflicts focusing on inborn biological factors – the so called “drives” — which are seen as the origin of any form of motivation. Analytic Self Psychology on the other hand focuses on the individual’s intrapsychic experience too. The selfobject construct contains two important theoretical components. First, the concept of the mother-infant-pair as a selfobject-self-unit emphasizes that the early development is essentially seen as interdependence between the self and the objects within a system. Second is the concept of regulation. The selfobject has urgently conveyed to the child experience that this attitude is allowed and that after the collision the relationship with the caregiver is repaired.
