ABSTRACT
Pruyser’s question of “What splits in ‘splitting?’” is addressed in the context of attacks on linking within the intrapsychic organization of ORUs, particularly regarding Affects, attachment contingencies, and biology. The focus shifts from an economic relationship between id, ego, and superego to an economic relationship between Self, Affect, and Other elements in interactions regarding ORU cohesion.
Affects exist from the beginning of experience and serve as essential building blocks of self structure. The positive and negative reward system of contingencies determines the particular attachment variables necessary between Infant (the mind of the infant, or the object relations of an older person’s infant experiences) and Other, given the infant’s developmental needs and limitations.
The process of splitting is presented as one of dis-integration, whereas repression is the minimizing of connection, awareness, and intensity of Affect. Dissociation is a normal coping mechanism in early development. The multiplicity of selves is introduced and positioned as significant within SAO/TEND.
Pruyser’s distinction between transitive and intransitive usages of “splitting” reflects the traumatic underpinnings of the relational element of SAO/TEND and their effects on intrapsychic structuring. Cleavages of selfhood expose the traumatic nature of the splitting and the subsequent multiplicity of selves.
