Emerging indicators of ego growth and associated resistances

• Published in: Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association Vol. 44; no. 4; p. 1101
• Main Author: Holmes, D E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-01-1996
• Subjects: Adult; Defense Mechanisms; Ego; Humans; Libido; Male; Professional-Patient Relations; Psychoanalysis; Psychoanalytic Therapy
• ISSN: 0003-0651
• DOI: 10.1177/000306519604400406

In this paper the technique of resistance analysis is extended beyond a focus on defenses against aggressive drive derivatives to include a focus on resistances based on libidinal conflicts and resistances which stem from defenses against accessing and using autonomous ego functions. For example, patients may resist progress by forming primary defenses against expression of joyful affects, increased capacity to think, and/or new possibilities for effective action. This expanded focus for analysis of resistance permits us to build a technique bridge between drive-defense perspectives and ego psychology, it highlights the need to analyze the sense of danger involved in autonomous ego functioning, and it points to a way of freeing such functioning from the influences of resistance.