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The Splitting Defense

This research examines the manner in which six theorists of object relations conceptualize the ego defense known as splitting. The research will set forth the background for the object-relations treatment of the splitting defense and then discuss the views of each theorist in turn.

The concept of ego-defenses has been connected to psychoanalytical theory almost from the earliest days of the discipline. Freud cites the psychopathology implicit when "the boundary lines between the ego and the external world become uncertain or in which they are actually drawn incorrectly . . . subject to disturbances[,] and the boundaries of the ego are not constant" (Freud, 1961, p. 13). Kernberg (1986, p. 352) refers to Freud's link of ego splitting to pathology, as well as his definition of ego splitting as "the co-existence of two contradictory dispositions throughout life . . . which did not influence each other." The Freudian notion of splitting is also connected to the Freudian structural hypothesis, or designation of the ego as the conscious mediator between the id (unconscious drives) and superego (social/parental regulator of life). While the Freudian conception of the ego has not been strictly adhered to by subsequent generations of psychology theorists, the notion that ego functions are more process than constant entity and entail the whole range of psychological conflicts, has survived. In object-relations psychology, a common thread of theoretical discussion is the quality and content of connections and distinctions between the ego and its myriad "objects" of perception (accurate or not), scrutiny, or encounter, whether these objects are material structures, social structures, or other human beings.

Melanie Klein. At the core of Klein's elaboration of splitting as an ego defense is the introduction of a concept she calls internal objects, a concept that leads to discussion of psychological development that differs from Freud's structu...

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The Splitting Defense. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:45, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1683161.html