ABSTRACT
Claustrum is the name Meltzer gave to the internal world of the internal mother as it is concretely experienced by the part of the personality living inside it consequent to projection into the internal mother. However, projection is in itself believed to divide the internal mother into three very different worlds. Each of these worlds is thought to be ruled by very different values, different ways of thinking and different aims in life. Claustrophobia is another term for phenomenology of projection. It spans a surprisingly large and nuanced number of different phenomena seen in both the consulting-room and in every-day life. This chapter focus on some of the troubles facing the patient who, having lived in the claustrum for a very long time, now seriously rehearses some steps outside it. The focus in this chapter is put on the struggle inherent in renouncing omnipotence and triumph as central aspects of claustrophobia. A particular trying outcome of struggling to come out of the claustrum is the experience of disorientation. This experience results from a deep shift of values, of ways of thinking and of aims in life. This shift may often lead to a sudden relapse into part-object level as a defense against the pain of seeing the exciting experience of triumph being threatened and even partly renounced to. At times, the struggle with omnipotent feelings grows even harder, however. “But the transference is the place where her omnipotence will get dissipated, really, and one has just to focus on it all the time,” Meltzer remarked.
NB: This chapter ends the fifth year of Sophie’s analysis and the fourth of supervision.
