ABSTRACT
The delusional state of mind often feels crushed by the reality principle. In the narcissistic transference as described by H. A. Rosenfeld, the other is the patient's opposite number, his mirror image, his shadow, his manufactured object. The ego becomes the battleground for political supremacy between the delusional part and the infantile ego seeking the help of an adult ego. The child and adult parts within the same person may try to negotiate through play, each allowing the other to challenge its basic tenets—a risky business, but if successful, dialogue becomes possible. The psychotic patient's ego becomes the centre of a solar system. Sometimes in the schizophrenic's mental space there are several galaxies, each with its own sun. The hope of the psychotic ego is to invent a Messiah, a charismatic ego-guide, or to put on the mantle of a Messiah and project outwards the fragments of a mutilated disoriented universe, a world desperately seeking direction.
