Psychoanalytic Principles

Alpha function explained: Bion’s theory of how raw beta elements become thinkable, what happens when the capacity fails, and how therapy builds it in adults.

Fear of breakdown explained: Winnicott’s paradox that the collapse you dread already happened, why it was never experienced, and how therapy helps.

Selfobject explained: Kohut’s concept of the people who hold your sense of self together, the three selfobject needs, and why they never stop mattering.

Repression vs suppression: one is unconscious and automatic, the other deliberate. How to tell them apart, why it matters clinically, and what therapy changes.

Separation individuation explained: Mahler’s four subphases, the rapprochement crisis, and why this early process still shapes adult closeness and autonomy.

Narcissistic injury explained: what it is, why small slights provoke huge reactions, how it differs from narcissistic rage, and how therapy can help.

Moral masochism explained: Freud’s three forms of masochism, why guilt seeks punishment, how the pattern shows up in ordinary life, and how therapy helps.

Object constancy explained: Mahler’s developmental theory, why some adults cannot hold onto love during conflict, and how psychoanalytic therapy builds it.

Splitting in psychology explained: Klein’s origins of all-good and all-bad, Kernberg on splitting in BPD, everyday examples, and how therapy builds integration.

True self and false self explained: Winnicott’s theory of how a compliant self forms, the signs of living behind one, and how therapy restores what is real.